former broadway writer and now actor and whenever he can find work and wally shawn be very apprehensive at the news of his friend avant grade director andre gregory invite him for dinner that even at a swanky upper east side restaurant to talk over old time . it be andre who give wally his first big break on broadway by direct a play that he write . time of late have not be kind to the two with wally not find anyone to accept his play or give him work a an actor and andre now go through a serious and almost suicidal depression . andre drop out of sight altogether in his own personal journey of self discovery in his attempt in try to find out what life be all about . in his five year journey andre come to the conclusion that the world a giant stage and we all be give part and like actor and actress and to play on it . in the end be to be judge how good or bad we be by how we preform the part that we be give . at first you do not know what to make of the movie my dinner with andre . the two friend just chit chat about mundane thing like late play open on broadway and what to order for dinner and roast quail with wild rice a bowl of steam hot potato soup and a fish pate appetizer . but a they begin bring out their innermost think about themselves and those close to them and between gulp of wine and soup and the movie take on a whole new and different flavor . in that the audience become not just an observer but a vital part of their conversation . we and and wally and learn from andre that his want to find himself and his reason for living have lead him over the last few year to travel to a number of exotic and far flung place that open his eye to a world he never know exist . from an unknown and almost mystical polish forest to the hot and burn sand of the vast sahara desert and a sub freezing and almost impassable tibetan mountain wilderness . with andre finally end up in this quaint and magical little scottish commune town call findhorn . over these five year andre say that he have a whole new emotional and educational experience that he want to share with his friend wally . but only in his own down beat way of tell it . this get so hung up with the futility of life that andre in effect turn off and instead of turn on and wally to his new find insight . it when both andre and wally begin to exchange opinion later in the movie and andre do most of the talk during the first half and that the two make contact with each other and draw the audience into their conversation . very esoteric at time but never at all boring or confuse my dinner with andre be a two hour talk between two friend about a whole list of subject . their conversation keep you glue and and listen and to the screen about how be lose our soul and identity to a both modern and indifferent and to the individual and world . in the end both wally and andre even though they have different opinion on how man can find his way back to nature as well a recover his long lost sense of reality . both andre and wally agree that open up one mind by let out what one feel deep down inside of him and or her and and not be afraid or embarrass in do it be the base of man go forward and improve the broken society that we all now and in the 1980 and live in . the two diner and andre and wally and philosophical sparring on issue like life and death and what existence be all about get a bit redundant at time in them try to find fault in on how valid or false they be . but a they each get to see how their view on the many different subject they discuss start to coincide with each other they and and we that be watch and realize that their on the same wavelength . the two end their dinner not just quench their appetite but their mind a well by exchange idea and opinion and come to an incisive and think provoke conclusion about almost everything there be to know about themselves and those around them . the very interesting film end on an optimistic note a a now less skeptical and far more optimistic wally say it and on a cab ride back home a the movie end and from what he learn from my dinner with andre .