The Dinner Club (2010) User Reviews

A light caliber thriller

[sorendanni · 6/10 · 9 January 2024]

De eetclub (The Dining Club) is a Dutch film based on a Dutch book by Saskia Noort. In fact, the same criticism applies to the film as to the book: it is a "thriller" made for an audience that otherwise would not like Scary, Suspenseful stories.

The plot can be summarized nicely: wealthy married women with a lot of free time together form an elite club, which revolves around taking turns preparing haute cuisine and playing hostess. There is something going on with their very rich men and when there are victims a little later, it turns out that the good friends from the dining club also have secrets from each other. Think of a kind of Housewifes of Beverly Hills with a murder mystery mixed in.

Not everything is bad: the beautiful ladies are believably portrayed as rich housewives and are also beautiful (or should I say expensive) enough for their role. It is true that the dialogue during the first half of the film does not seem to be about anything, except that it is very quiet and boring in the expensive residential area. But isn't that what all the rich housewives are talking about?

The murder mystery is the biggest weakness: not a bad idea, but the execution is weak, there are holes in the story and it never gets scary...

I give this movie 6/10 because it's not really made for fans of real thrillers. This is a 'murder in a housewife' s tale' film, for fans of films and series about rich housewives, who want a mystery as an excuse to marvel at the expensive houses, clothes and eating habits of rich people. Just like the book, it is not a real thriller, but that doesn't make it bad either. Worth a view if you are into this sort of light caliber thrillers.

A thriller "light" with many pentagram affairs

[fuzaporlapiza · 6/10 · 21 November 2012]

I haven't read the book but I did read the negative reviews before watching this movie. Therefore I was prepared for the worst. It's not a movie to see if you're tired and better do not drink any alcohol neither since you will need a clear brain to puzzle your way through the story. It's more like a mix of detective and soap than a heavy thriller.

The story centers around a girl who moved with her husband and two kids to a nice and very wealthy district of a Dutch town. Soon she is introduced in a club formed by neighbors, the "Dinner club". When the problems arrive she finds out that not anybody gets along with everybody.

workmanlike thriller from the Netherlands

[myriamlenys · 6/10 · 11 January 2021]

A family moves to an affluent suburb where the (very) rich live in ease and luxury. The wife and mother soon discovers a world of shopping sprees, outings, dinner parties. Still, all is not well. Within the beautifully kept walls of these expensive buildings some very unpleasant vices rear their head - vices like lust, greed, anger...

"De eetclub" is a decent though uninspired thriller of the "mayhem in the suburbs" type. (Sadly I've never read the bestseller it is based upon, so that I'm unable to say something about its nature as an adaptation.) The movie gets the job done, but without much in the way of fire, subtlety and imagination. The movie also finds it difficult to generate true suspense. Some directors are able to film, say, half a dozen people chatting round a dinner table and sipping white wine in such a way that the viewer trembles with tension and dread ; alas, no such luck here.

Still, one recognizes the kind of universe depicted - a world full of yoga exercises, of wellness treatments and of shining, modern, affluent people who possess a permanent seat in the local opera house, a wine cellar, a vacation house in Tuscany and God knows what crippling vice or addiction. And then one day a seemingly happy housewife flattens the Spanish au pair with the aid of a frying pan...

much too fast

[pvdloo · 2/10 · 23 April 2011]

I am not gonna spend to much words about this movie just because it isn't worth it. I rarely write reviews but after watching this one I feel the urge to do so. I think someone in college can do a better movie than this. I have read the novel and I thought it was very good so I was curious about his movie, It doens't come close to the quality of the book.

It's all to fast, no suspense at all. Bad and much too fast dialogues, story is and stays a riddle. Book was very clear though. I was so amazed how a good book and very good story could be so messed up. Amazing.

Worst Dutch film ever

[vanderveldenton · 1/10 · 30 November 2010]

I don't easily write any negative critiques but for this 90-minute thriller I think I should. It's about a woman moving into a villa area and a few murders. That's about all there is to say about it as it so uninteresting and hard to understand. I couldn't care less what happened or why or "who did it". Some people have an affair,even the main character and people die. That's it. Absolutely amazing how so much money could have been wasted on a thriller that does not thrill but bore you to death. Only 90 minutes. That is in this case a BIG PLUS! Don't waste your money on this C-class film. Most of the timer it was not even easy to hear what they said and I sat on first row.

Shame on dutch cinema ...Shame!

[Its1917hrs · 1/10 · 25 March 2011]

By far the worst movie i have ever seen. In all fairness, it's based on a book by the biggest of all fluff writers so it had nothing to start from.

There is no thriller element in this movie. Let it be clear that it is not a thriller. It's a soap opera about well to do, but bored suburbanites who have nothing to do but screw each other in a perfect looking town. Then someone falls of the roof of a hotel. Now here is supposed to be the turning point "where everything is not what it seems." But it deflates instantly. Nothing happens, no-th-ing at all. The motives, the dialogue, the complete and utter emptiness of this story is an insult to the public.

If you want to watch a decent European thriller with a similar theme that is worth your while watch The Door (Die Tur) with Mads Mikkelsen and if it has to be dutch try Tirza.

a dutch movie you should NOT see.

[shakiro1976 · 3/10 · 10 July 2011]

While watching this film i became curious who the producer is, because i was really wondering if he made more movies or that maybe this was his first movie (i found out that his first movie was in 1995 and that he received a price for it) It's a miracle that he found a crew with some 'big' names (for dutch standards) for a movie that is SO bad. And while i was watching the movie i was also wondering if the actors were satisfied after seeing the final result of the movie. I thought it was one of the worst movies i've seen in the last 5 years (and i watch 2 movies a week on average) It's not a thriller. It's difficult to understand. The acting is very bad from time to time and even the camera work is far from what it could have been. I didn't read the book, but when people say its a thousand times better than the movie, i would believe them, as it wouldn't be that difficult to reach such a level.

Bad movie

[qeao-14318 · 1/10 · 11 July 2023]

I was stressed so I wanted to watch a movie with my friends that would make me laugh, Dutch movies tend to do that even if the subject matter is dark or gritty. But the movie doesn't even give me that pleasure. So I just became more stressed. And I didn't realise I had already seen the movie 2 years ago. Shows what an impact this movie made.

Bad acting, the dialogue between characters is like watching a play by fourth graders. I would even say fourths graders would be able to do a better job.

So all in all, dreadful movie, and don't make the mistake I made by watching it twice. It will make you cry in agony.