Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

JohnHowardReid Anything more unlike an M-G-M film of the later thirties or forties would be difficult to imagine. It doesn't have the M-G-M visual look because Ced Gibbons didn't do most of the art direction for this one and so Barrymore's office looks appropriately dingy and old-fashioned and the Jordan home looks fusty and late Victorian. Oddly enough, Jean Harlow's apartment does look like Gibbons' work, being done all in white, while Harlow models some ravishing Adrian costumes.Mankiewicz's script is a brittle comedy of manners, played to perfection by a talented cast under Cukor's direction. Whilst larger than life, the performances are not allowed to degenerate too far along the road of theatrical posturing. It is a tribute to Cukor's skill that such noted scene-chewers as Lionel B, Wallace B, John B, Marie D, Billie B and May Robson can play together at all, let alone so convincingly ensemble and all comparatively subdued. Jean Harlow is not outclassed and in her arguments with Beery, the sparks really fly. The support cast is great too, particularly Grant Mitchell as an unwilling guest. The only player who doesn't really impress is Edmund Lowe who seems to have strayed in from some "B" picture. Not only is he utterly unconvincing, he's charmless too. In fact the two qualities are related - he's unconvincing because he's so charmless.The screenplay crackles with wit, which its age has not dimmed. Only the drama (the wrestling for control of Jordan's shipping company; a has-been super-egotistical actor planning a come-back on the stage), now seems somewhat clichéd and naive.

Hitchcoc It's interesting that this is generally considered a comedy, but it has a really hard edge. There is suicide, greed, bankruptcy and infighting. Granted, there are numerous funny lines, including one famous one about the world's oldest profession. Carole Lombard plays the selfish blonde bombshell who is in the middle of everything. The figure that is far and away the most interesting is Marie Dressler. She was always cast as the matronly character with a with control over situations. I remember her connection to another figure in this movie, Wallace Beery, the hard drinking, in sensitive boorish blowhard. They were together in "Min and Bill" and formed a combative couple that will be remembered for all of filmdom. The interesting thing is that she was a woman who usually got her way.

bigverybadtom My mother and I watched most of this movie, expecting it to be a comedy (from what the box said). Comedy? There was not a single laugh or even smile to be had. The movie ranged from boring to unpleasant, and there were plenty of big stars but nary a likable or sympathetic character in the lot.The movie stars a wealthy New York woman who wants to throw a dinner party for the purpose of social advancement, with her husband reluctantly going along. She invites over a wealthy British couple who are coming to the United States, and invites a number of other people to have the proper number, as well as the right mixture of males and females. But everyone has some sort of dark secret; the couple's daughter, who has a fiancée, has fallen in love with an actor whose career is failing; the husband's company is in serious financial trouble; a former actress is also in financial difficulty; a bullying former miner is secretly buying out the husband's company's stock, and his wife is having an affair; and this is just a sample of the betrayals and intrigues that are going on.This could have had the makings of a comedy, but we found no jokes or any other reasons to laugh. Nor did we end up caring what happened to any of the characters in the story. Pass up this dinner invitation.

Jeffrey Roegner Critics rolled their eyes when in 2010, the film "Valentine's Day" (and it's 2011 companion film "New Years Eve") was released, with it's star- studded cast, and measly plot lines. This film, while it had it's endearing moments, didn't work, mostly due to it's poor script, but also because it had too much going on. "Dinner At Eight" is a very early example of the same principal that "Valentine's Day" employs, and is a film that does it right. An answer to the film "Grand Hotel" from a few years earlier with similar elements, "Dinner At Eight" features an all- star cast for 1933, which includes, but is not limited to Marie Dressler (in a very memorable and perhaps show stopping role), Billie Burke (the future Glinda the Good Witch), John Barrymore (who will break your heart), Lionel Barrymore, Madge Evans, Wallace Beery, and Jean Harlow, who is divine in the role of the spoiled, self centered wife of Beery. The plot concerns Burke as a society lady who is planning a dinner for a wealthy British couple coming into town and the people she invites. The first half of "Dinner at Eight" almost plays like a series of vignettes as it expertly jumps between different story lines, telling us exactly what we need to know about these characters. Being a pre-code, depression era film, it also deals with depression era problems, and has a message about hope shoehorned in, which is of course what audiences probably needed to hear in 1933. The performances are all spectacular, but Harlow, Dressler, and John Barrymore, not to leave out the others, are standouts as well as smaller roles played by Louise Closser Hale (who died shortly after filming was completed) as society lady Hattie Loomis and Hilda Vaughn as Harlow's put upon maid, Tina. No moment in the film is dull, nor does it lag. There is a purpose to every scene and character. the story expertly moves along at a rapid pace. "Dinner at Eight" is truly a wonderful picture from start to finish, and helmed by the great George Cukor is areal treat to watch. It just goes to show you that with a good script, cast, and the right director (not to put down Garry Marshall), a film with many story lines can be done well.