# Dinner in America

Dinner in America is a 2020 American coming of age dark comedy film written, directed, and edited by Adam Carter Rehmeier. It stars Kyle Gallner, Emily Skeggs, Griffin Gluck, Pat Healy, Mary Lynn Rajskub, David Yow, Hannah Marks, Nick Chinlund, and Lea Thompson. The plot follows a punk rock singer (Gallner) on the run and a young woman (Skeggs) obsessed with his band who unexpectedly cross paths.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020, earning critical acclaim for its energy and the performances of the leads. After struggling to find distribution, it was self-released in the United States on May 27, 2022. In 2024, the film developed a cult following after being rediscovered and gaining popularity on TikTok, leading to a second theatrical run.

## Plot

A reckless, on-the-lam punk rock singer, Simon, goes home with Beth, a girl he met while volunteering at a clinical trial. He and Beth's mother begin to flirt, and after getting caught, Simon lights the family's front yard on fire. Meanwhile, track athletes Derrick and Brandon bully the young and awkward Patty, who goes to work at a pet store before returning home. She eats dinner with her parents, Norman and Connie, and brother Kevin, and is unsuccessful in asking for permission to go to a rock show with her friends, Sissy and Karen. For the past two years, Patty has been sending postcards containing nude photos and lyrics of her original music to John Q, the lead singer of her favorite band PSYOPS, who will be playing next week with the Alliance. She is unaware that John Q, who performs wearing a ski mask, is Simon.
A police officer spots Simon selling drugs and gives chase but fails to find him. Simon crosses paths with Patty, who recognizes him from a college course on music appreciation. She tells him that she was just fired from the pet store by the owner, Mr. Hanley. She takes him back to her place, where they flirt. Simon and Patty later eat dinner with the rest of her family. Simon convinces Norman and Connie to give him a place to stay for the week and tells Kevin he is adopted. Patty tells Simon about her fascination for John Q. Simon runs away and confronts his band members for setting up the rock show without his knowledge. He returns to Patty's house and smokes weed with Kevin.
Simon and Patty make plans to demand an overdue paycheck from Mr. Hanley. Derrick and Brandon come across them and beat up Simon. In a rage, Simon convinces a friend to lend him his truck. He goes home to retrieve a dead cat from Patty's front yard before tracking down Derrick and Brandon. Patty acts provocatively to distract them as Simon knocks them unconscious, strips them, burns their tracksuits, and places the dead cat on their bodies. The smoke alerts the other track athletes, who find them as Simon and Patty make their escape and drive away. They get the check from Mr. Hanley and eat lunch at a fast-food restaurant, where they kiss passionately. Simon and Patty spend the rest of the day on a date at an arcade, with Simon breaking into a ticket machine to win Patty a stuffed teddy bear. They return home and find the rest of Patty's family completely stoned.
The following day, Simon prevents Patty from going to a job interview to be a dish cleaner and instead takes her to the basement of his mother's house. He tells her that he is John Q and proves it by returning her postcards. He praises her songwriting abilities. They have sex and later perform one of her songs. Her singing brings him to tears. Simon's family arrives home and invites the pair to dinner. When the family starts to criticize Simon and accuse him of being a drug addict, Patty confronts them, but they mistake her awkwardness for drug use. The family kicks them both out. Patty asks Simon if he thinks she is retarded, to which he tells her to stop undervaluing herself because she is a "total punk rocker." When Simon tells his music manager that he refuses to play with the Alliance, his band members decide to call the police and turn him in for a reward. Simon takes Patty on another date to a "secret" rock show. He sings one of her favorite songs, "Dinner in America," and dedicates the performance to her, cementing their relationship. The police arrest Simon as Sissy and Karen notice Patty kissing him before he goes. The trio decides to start a riot girl band. Sometime later, Patty reads a letter from Simon that includes a nude photo of him. She punches a bully that calls her a retard, walks away, puts on a ski mask, and listens to the song she recorded with Simon.

## Cast

* Kyle Gallner as Simon/John Q, a punk rock singer
* Emily Skeggs as Patty, a young and awkward college dropout
* Griffin Gluck as Kevin, Patty's brother
* Pat Healy as Norman, Patty's father
* Mary Lynn Rajskub as Connie, Patty's mother
* David Yow as Eddie Sorvino, Simon's music manager
* Hannah Marks as Beth
* Nick Chinlund as Bill, Beth's father
* Lea Thompson as Betty, Beth's mother
* Sean Rogers as Bobby, Beth's brother
* Nico Greetham as Derrick
* Lukas Jacob as Brandon
* Sidi Henderson as pet store owner Mr. Hanley
* Maryann Nagel as Nancy, Simon's mother
* Brittany Sheets as Sissy
* Sophie Bolen as Karen

## Production

The concept for the film originated from two sketches by writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier. The first sketch, Kicks (2006), centered entirely around Simon's time volunteering for clinical trials to pay for his punk records. Rehmeier wrote the second sketch, Dinner in America, around 2009, and took a more comedic approach that focused on Patty's family as they ate dinner. When he saw they were not working independently, he combined the stories together sometime between 2013 and 2014, and the idea for the film came to fruition. Rehmeier said the film drew inspiration from the characters of Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and the title character in Napoleon Dynamite (2004): "I wouldn't say they were really direct [influences]. I think really it came down to writing things that weren't going anywhere and just having like a lot of marinating over a long period of time."
The screenplay was noticed by filmmaker Danny Leiner who, initially interested in directing, noticed Rehmeier's vision and came on board the project as a producer. The ensemble cast, including leads Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs, was announced in September 2018. Two weeks of rehearsals were held before filming began in and around Metro Detroit, Michigan. Locations included Southfield, Farmington, Hamtramck, and the campus of Oakland University. Leiner died by the time production had concluded in 2018; the film is dedicated to his memory. Ben Stiller and Nicky Weinstock are credited in the end credits as producers as well. Leiner said he was thankful for their guidance, especially since Weinstock was on set the entire time. Skeggs, who plays Patty, said musician Ezra Furman was a major inspiration for her performance. Original songs for the film were constructed ahead of filming during pre-production. The score was composed by John Swihart. Emily Skeggs and Adam Rehmeir wrote the original song "Watermelon" in one day during the two weeks of rehearsals before shooting. The punk songs in the film were written by the band Disco Assault.

## Release

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2020, as part of the U.S. Dramatic Competition. It left Sundance without securing a buyer and struggled to find distribution, having to continue its festival run with virtual screenings because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it was self-released in select theaters in the United States on May 27, 2022, by Best & Final Releasing, and on video-on-demand two weeks later on June 7.
In September 2024, clips and posts about the film and its original song "Watermelon" (performed by Skeggs) began to go viral on the social media platform TikTok. It quickly developed a cult following, trending on the streaming service Hulu, the social cataloging app Letterboxd, and Google. Shortly after, screenings of the film were announced after an online grassroots campaign garnered momentum. The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, California, was one of the first theaters to establish a screening in response to a plethora of fan requests, selling out in under 24 hours. The IFC Center in Manhattan similarly played the movie to a 400-person audience in November. After successful first screenings, theaters added more, driving other locations to decide to host, like the Prince Charles Cinema in the United Kingdom. The theatrical run continued into 2025, with Laemmle Theatres for example screening it in multiple Los Angeles cinemas in February.

## Reception
### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 75 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Rounded out by a pair of satisfying performances, Dinner in America is a coming-of-age rom-com with infectious punk rock energy." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Lorry Kikta of Film Threat hailed the performances from the ensemble cast as "fantastic" and said the screenplay was "hilarious and ingenious." Dennis Harvey of Variety called the film "surreal" and described Gallner's portrayal as "a knockout lead performance."

### Accolades

Accolades received by Dinner in America :
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Dublin International Film Festival | March 15, 2021 | Jury Prize | Kyle Gallner | Won |
| Fantasporto | May 31, 2021 | Best Screenplay | Adam Carter Rehmeier | Won |
| Guanajuato International Film Festival | May 8, 2020 | Best Film | Dinner in America | Nominated |
| Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival | July 14, 2020 | Best Film | Dinner in America | Won |
| Odesa International Film Festival | May 10, 2020 | Grand Prix – International Competition | Adam Carter Rehmeier | Won |
| Sundance Film Festival | February 1, 2020 | Grand Prix – International Competition | Adam Carter Rehmeier | Nominated |
| Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival | November 27, 2020 | Rebels with a Cause Award | Dinner in America | Won (Tied with "La Verónica") |