Ah, Thanksgiving, the holiday of too much. Too much food, too much time at home, too much family, too much non-productivity. But you can never have too much of a bad thing.
So, to help you get through this week, I’ve comprised a list of memorable movie scenes that take place at the dinner table; they’re guaranteed to at least challenge the awkwardness, hilarity and outright horror of the real-life ones you’re sure to experience. Here’s a selection of the top three (see all 10 at studlife.com/cadenza), some grouped together by a paper-thin commonality, but all certain to lift your holiday spirits, or at least sate your appetite for dysfunction for a year.
3. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Beetlejuice,” “Alien,” “Eraserhead” and “Dead Alive”—the gross-out group. Succinctly, in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” one young woman finds herself dining with her captors. The family is a lot of disgusting inbred psychos. The real horror sets in when she realizes she is the main course and some of the family members help the patriarch kill her. “Beetlejuice” features one of the biggest “WTF?” moments ever, when the dinner guests, including Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Jones, break into a rendition of “Day-O.” Have fun ever eating lobster again. “Alien” features my favorite regurgitation scene in film. My brother has had a lot of fun re-enacting this one at dinner. This is the perfect thing to think about after eating too much turkey. A scene in David Lynch’s incomprehensible and entirely disturbing “Eraserhead” embodies my fear of an undercooked meal and avian flu. In the most disgusting of these scenes, a man dines with his mother and her friends. And here’s the catch of Peter Jackson’s disgusting “Dead Alive”: The mother is a zombie. During one scene, her body starts to fall apart. It’s too grotesque to ever describe. The film is campy B-horror gold, but it is the most disgusting film I have ever seen. Always look at your custard when you’re eating.
2. “American Beauty.” In Alan Ball’s suburban satire, Lester Burnham comes home to his hysterical wife and estranged daughter after quitting his job. The setup and even some of the line deliveries make the scene feel genuine, but the bitter, harsh sarcasm elevates into a hilarious and sad scene at the dinner table, where everyone in the family talks about their day. This scene features another one of my all-time favorite lines: “Somebody please pass me the asparagus.” (It’s better in context.) Kevin Spacey displays why he has two well-deserved Oscars, and Annette Bening shows that she really deserved one for this film.
1. “The Gold Rush.” In Charlie Chaplin’s hilarious silent classic, his trademark character The Tramp hosts several women in his cabin for dinner. A social outcast, he makes several provisions to try to impress them. Doubting if any of these are working, The Tramp performs The Oceana Roll with two forks and two dinner rolls. The sequence, shot in a single take, is impressive, hilarious and triumphant. This is The Tramp’s act of desperation to impress his dinner guests. It is a hit and a classic scene. Johnny Depp had to learn the trick for his film “Benny and Joon,” and said it was the hardest thing he’s ever had to do in a film. Yeah, that’s coming from Sweeney Todd.
Memorable dinner table scenes
Published: Monday, November 24, 2008
Updated: Monday, November 24, 2008
 "Photo: New Line Cinema")
New Line Cinema
From "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
2 comments
TJ
Actually, the was on my short-list, along with the scene from BORAT. I was going to group them together, but didn't feel they quite held up to the quality of some of the rest of these. Good catch, though. I agree, great scene.
smoothie12
One of the funniest dinner scenes is in Taladega Nights; The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. While seated at their dinner of KFC and Mountain Dew, the two kids ("Walker" and Texas Ranger") are ripping on grandpa while their dad, Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) eggs them on. I'm sure most of it was improv. Too hilarious to describe here. If you have any familiarity with the trashy side of southern culture, you must see this movie.
