The Dinner Party (2000)

The granddaddy of comic playwrights, Neil Simon, is back with a much anticipated new play. The Dinner Party is a one-act affair about six Parisian divorces invited to a mysterious gathering, which takes place in a baroque dining room. The first third clocks one gratifying laugh every minute, thanks to the presence of sitcom vets Henry Winkler (as a nebbishy car salesman) and John Ritter (as a frustrated novelist). But as the characters recount their mating failures and sexual histories, Simon drifts into Oprahisms and — worse — a pureed decadence. What emerges is a view of marriage that is both sour and sentimental. B-