Though the actors are first-rate, ‘The Dinner’ drags on

“The Dinner”

***

(R, 2:00)

It’s fitting that the first images you see in the riveting family drama “The Dinner” are of food. Fancy food. The kind of artful fare that few mortals could possibly re-create and that books, television shows and movies fetishize and worship. But there’s something sinister about these images — the ominous music and the camera movements make these painstakingly designed and exorbitantly expensive dishes seem like all that is evil in the modern world. That sticks with you throughout writer-director Oren Moverman’s ambitious, if not wholly successful, film.

Based on the Dutch novel by Herman Koch, the setup is small but intriguing. Two married couples gather for dinner to discuss something sensitive, regarding their teenage sons — creating the atmosphere of genuinely suspenseful whodunit. One is a charismatic congressman who’s running for governor, Stan Lohman (Richard Gere), and his prim (and young) wife, Katelyn (Rebecca Hall). The other is Stan’s perpetually aggrieved brother, Paul (Steve Coogan), and his tolerant wife, Claire (Laura Linney).

Paul, a former public schoolteacher, doesn’t want to go to the dinner. He hates the decadence and pretention of the restaurant and does not seem interested in pretending to be anything but disdainful of the operation. Paul’s stubbornness is a little endearing at first — he seems to be on to something about wealth and opulence. But as the film progresses, his true makeup emerges. Paul might have Marxist ideas, but he comes from the same advantaged stock as Stan.

As each course comes out, a new layer is exposed in the complex tapestry of the lives of the two families — Stan’s first wife, various health issues and the deep-seated damage and corrosiveness of long-unchecked privilege.

The performances are first-rate — nuanced and lived in from the first moments of performative civility to the shattering barbs thrown by the end — even if the women are given the short stick here. But it is, essentially, about the brothers, and both Coogan and Gere are up to the challenge.

It takes a little too long for the movie to arrive at the Big Thing. There are so many fits and starts and diversions and delays that even the most patient viewer will have a hard time buying that it would take these four this long to get to the point. By the time they do, interest has slowed and patience is waning. But with the revelation, however tardy, a new ethical and moral conundrum arises that effectively propels the film to its fiery end. It might even leave you wanting more.

To be perfectly blunt, though, “The Dinner” is not an easy watch, and it might be hard to stomach for some.