In the midst of all the big-budget, high adrenaline, action films during the summer movie season that we all come to expect, it's a pleasurable change to see an independent film pop up to allow us to escape into. Although indie films are often quirky and unpredictable, they are, at least, different than the usual explosive fare we see. So now we are offered "Beatriz at Dinner" to sink our teeth into.
A holistic medical caregiver, Beatriz (Salma Hayek) is invited to have dinner at the home of a wealthy client, Cathy (Connie Britton) after Beatriz's car breaks down in the driveway. Beatriz seems a bit awkward after Cathy's guests including Alex (Jay Duplass), Shannon (Chloe Sevigny), Jeana (Amy Landecker) and Doug Strutt (John Lithgow), a wealthy, notorious financial mogul, arrive, but subsequently butts heads with Strutt claiming, at numerous times, that she knew him from somewhere. She soon interrogates Strutt over the morality of how he's earned his incredible wealth. What starts out to be a nice dinner turns out to be two diametrically opposed perspectives not giving an inch to the others' opinions.
Others to round out the cast are David Warshofsky as Grant, Cathy's husband, John Early as Evan, the dinner's server, Natalia Abelleyra as Suzana and Soledad St. Hilaire as The Maid.
This was directed with meticulous craft by Miguel Arteta ("Star Maps" '97, "Chuck & Buck" 2000, "The Good Girl" '02, "Criminology 101" (TV movie) '03, "Youth in Revolt" '09, "Chinatown Film Project" '09, "Cedar Rapids" '11, "Rita" (TV movie) '13, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" '14) plus TV and shorts. As with this filmmaker's resume, this guy cannot be pigeon-holed, and this film proves that reputation even more. The way Hayek's depressed but calm caregiver and Lithgow's steely, flippant, self-absorbed financial titan gave a stunning view of opposites which is talented directing. It was interestingly written by Mike White ("Dead Man on Campus" '98, "Chuck & Buck" 2000, "Orange County" '02, "The Good Girl" '02, "School of Rock" '03, "Earth to America" (TV movie, segment "writer") '05, "Nacho Libre" '06, "Year of the Dog" '07, "Mamma Dallas" (TV movie) '16) plus TV. I say interesting because Beatriz goes from this seemingly calm, peaceful slightly down individual to this depressed, subdued angry individual in a relative short period of time. I feel this has nothing to do with Hayek's performance as much as an unrealistic character development. And the ending, not to go into detail lest causing a spoiler alert, kind of drops you as if White wasn't sure what to do with the ending. I'm sure he would know, but this is how it appears. The reason why the audience is seeing this is for the direct opposing perspectives of Hayek's Beatriz and Lithgow's Strutt. They are stunning performances by both equally. Trust me, I have high praise for White--his screenplay for "School of Rock" has got to be one of the best films written, but not sure what happened here--bad day at the laptop? This was a well orchestrated script; it just needed a bit more polish.
If indie films are your thing, you'll be in indie heaven, however if you're into the typical explosive, big-budget film, you might want to avoid this.. This definitely has a limited audience as do a lot of indie films, but this doesn't negate quality. This has great character development and acting and that may just be enough for one to get through this story.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: R 82mins.
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