‘Beatriz at Dinner’ Review: Salma Hayek Political Satire Oversells Its Message

If zeitgeist appeal were everything, “Beatriz at Dinner” would be an instant classic: this satire pits a hard-working immigrant against a table full of irritating rich people and the mega-wealthy real estate mogul to whom they’re all toadying.

The film’s failure to launch is all the more disappointing given the talent on both sides of the camera: screenwriter Mike White and director Miguel Arteta established themselves as masters of inappropriate dialogue and awkward pauses in 2000’s “Chuck and Buck,” a classic of squirmy, hilarious discomfort.

There could be YouTube supercuts of actors embarrassing themselves by awkwardly handling vacuum cleaners or lawnmowers on film — you can tell when a movie star hasn’t washed their own dishes or entered a grocery store in decades — but there’s never a false moment in Hayek’s untucked proletarianism.

Beatriz is a masseuse and spiritual healer (she’s got Buddha on the dashboard and the Blessed Virgin hanging from her rearview mirror) who works at an alternative clinic for cancer patients.

[...] when Beatriz’s car breaks down, Cathy immediately invites her to stay for dinner.