Steve Guttenberg

Steve Guttenberg's Eddie in Diner (1982) can be difficult company without making us wish he would leave. He plays the immaturity plainly, letting us enjoy the man while keeping his behaviour open to question. We felt fond of Eddie despite ourselves, because Guttenberg makes his reluctance to grow up engaging without suggesting it is harmless. Barry Levinson's writing gives him enough awkwardness to work with, and Guttenberg does not try to smooth it all away.

That ensemble work preceded the run of broader comedies that made him a familiar leading man. Police Academy (1984), with Guttenberg as Carey Mahoney, was the decisive move, followed by Cocoon (1985), Short Circuit (1986) and Three Men and a Baby (1987). His comic timing and physical humour suited that work, as did his ability to fit comfortably among other actors.

In Diner, the other actors give that agreeableness something to work against. Daniel Stern makes Shrevie irritable enough to stop the company becoming cosy, while Mickey Rourke's Boogie has his own persuasive charm and Kevin Bacon's Fenwick brings restlessness. Guttenberg belongs among them without seeming interchangeable with any of them. Levinson does not force every difference into a quarrel, and Guttenberg's ease with naturalistic dialogue helps those exchanges hold our attention. The drifting pace needs patience, and the women get too little room, but the men's company remains worth it.

The difficulty is that lightweight comedies became a constraint, with fewer opportunities for dramatic work. The later 1980s sequels also brought more formulaic roles, asking less of the actor we see in Diner. After a break in the mid-1990s, he returned to stage work and later took recurring television roles. We would be wary of treating that change in prominence as a verdict on what he could do. Start with Diner if the broad comedies have left him looking too predictable.