Making a 10 second Simpsons gag into an actual game is always a hard needle to thread. Going too meta vs being too basic all the little nuances in between. My Dinner With Andre smartly doesn't try to overstay its welcome and switches up the discussion about art and philosophy. Instead of centering on two friends talking about theater, Andre and Wallace talk about the game industry. Andre's disillusion with the AAA studios versus Wallace's financial struggles as an indie developer makes for a good turn and a good centerpiece for the commentary.

The choices are pretty straight-forward. Tell Me More lets Andre keep talking. Trenchant Insight allows Wallace to offer a counterpoint regarding his own gaming experience. Bon Mot lets Wallace make a quip. It doesn't change the actual discussion by any degree, but it doesn't really need to.

The key part of My Dinner With Andre, to me, is that there's no real right side of the debate. There's no winner or no victor, its just about the conversation. There's sort of a happy reconciliation in here when the two decide to build a game together. The original film has a discussion about how Andre could afford to leave the theater industry, while Wallace has to struggle more to pay the bills. I'm not asking them to go too far in the other direction and make them miserable. But its just a bit too tidy for me.

But also, its a ten minute gag game. There's some charming animation, there's sincere dedication to recreating both the Simpsons and the movie, its just delightful. I respect it.