Religious stereotypes flaw romantic comedy
Tony Fiorentino certainly has drive. He wrote, directed and stars in "My Dinner with Amy," a romantic comedy about an atheist academic who bets a born-again Christian that she can't convert him by the end of their meal.
All that ambition amounts to very little when it comes to the pedestrian, predictable "My Dinner with Amy." By trading in cliches and stereotypes, the play squanders the dramatic potential generated by its extended debate on faith vs. reason.
Fiorentino plays the smug but affable Tom, a divorced, lapsed Catholic, professor of existential philosophy who hooks up for sex with the women he meets online. On a whim, he agrees to meet his latest potential partner Amy (the perky star Alexis Velazquez) for dinner. Turns out Amy's an evangelical and experienced bait and switch artist: she solicits men for sex, then diverts them from coitus by converting them to Jesus. Recognizing a challenge when he sees it, Tom bets Amy the check that she can't convert him. Moreover, he insists that by the end of dinner, he will have converted her.
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Except for inopportune interruptions by their fussy waiter Nathan (Phillip McFarlane, whose performance recalls "Sex and the City's" Mario Cantone), they spend the next 90 minutes arguing over creation vs. evolution; divine inspiration vs. human ingenuity; suffering, free will, prayer and whether the Bible should be interpreted literally. It's a veritable buffet of hot-button issues accompanied by a side of angst (leftover from past romances) and seasoned with a bit of unresolved sexual tension.
Fiorentino dishes up some amusing shtick and a few laughs (most courtesy of Tom for with Amy serving as straight man) in this "Dinner." But what really spoils the meal is the straw man of faith that Fiorentino serves up as reason's foil.
Amy lacks substance. A devout Christian who confuses 15th century reformer Martin Luther with Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor? A virgin who outperforms Meg Ryan when it comes to simulated sex at the dinner table? She simply isn't as credible as Fiorentino's doubting Tom, whose knowledge of the Bible exceeds hers and whose arguments have wit and clarity hers lack.
Had Fiorentino eased off the stereotypes and cooked up a more worthy opponent, "My Dinner with Amy" might have been more than just a warmed over comedy.
"My Dinner with Amy"
1#189; stars out of four
Location: Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago
Times: 8 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays through March 23
Running Time: About 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $25
Parking: Metered and valet parking available
Box office: (773) or www.diamanteproductions.com
Rating: Adult subject matter and language, sexual innuendo