Dinner with Friends

Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette topline this HBO produced telepic that asks, "can your marriage survive your best friends' divorce?" Late thirtysomethings Kinnear and Collette portray white picket fence husband and wife Tom and Beth, introduced to one another by their newlywed best friends, major food lovers Gabe (Quaid) and Karen (MacDowell). When, after 12 seemingly picture perfect years, Tom's and Beth's marriage suddenly crumbles, Gabe and Karen are forced into putting their own marriage under the microscope. Solidly acted and directed (by famed helmer Norman Jewison, no less), this comedy-drama lacks only two things: comedy and drama. The teleplay by Donald Margulies, based on his own Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, is as shallow and predictable as they come, featuring four miserably self-centered characters you wouldn't want to share a cup of coffee with, let alone an extended sit-down. Save your appetite. Not a necessary purchase. (S. C. Sickles)