MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of crude and sexual content, some partial nudity and language.
Director: Jay Roach
Writer: David Guion & Michael Handelman
Cast: Steve Carrel; Paul Rudd
Genre: Comedy
Memorable Movie Quote: "My name is Vassily Orlov. Today, a Russian agent will travel to New York city to kill the President. This agent is KA-12."
Release Date: July 23, 2010
DVD Release Date: January 4, 2011
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Jay Roach’s latest film, Dinner for Schmucks, is a surgically sanitized reproduction of 1998’s French comedy, Le Dinner de Cons with neither its charm nor its award-winning wit. Roach, once the King of Crude with films like Austin Powers and Meet the Parents, plays it way too safe and general with the comedic beats this time out and damn near spit-shines his film until its summer polish is just too artificial – even for the masses.
Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, two comedic actors that have previously played off each other with better results, simply aren’t ugly or “schmuck-like” enough to each other throughout this mess. They are pretty much a couple of bland characters with only a tiny bit of casual grating against each other during the course of the movie. Both are too full of tolerance and forgiveness to make this buddy picture anything less than supremely predictable and super sub-par for their talents. Everyman Rudd plays Tim, who literally runs into Barry (Carrel) with his Porsche on the day after he is told that in order to get the much wanted promotion at the film he works for he should bring an idiot to his snobby boss’s dinner party.
Yes, there is a prize for the most idiotic of their guests and the one who brings that idiot gets rewarded for their discovery of the evening’s entertainment. Of course, Tim wins. We already know he will because Barry is a super idiot. Sounds harsh and mean-spirited, right? Well, the movie isn’t. That’s its big problem. No one gets hurt. No one gets bamboozled. No one gets pissed. And, certainly, no one acts like a schmuck. Ever. Simply put, the characters aren’t real. They are too categorized and generic to work effectively. It’s the “Snobs” (Bruce Greenwood and Ron Livingston) verses the “Idiots” with Rudd hanging about in the peripherals to balance the war out with his normalcy. Even appearances from Zach Galifianakis, Jeff Dunham, and Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement can’t save the mostly unfunny adaptation by David Guion and Michael Handelman from being a less-than-average affair.
Dinner for Schmucks never becomes risqué or revealing. Like a child sitting alone in a corner, it seems afraid of its own situation. It doesn’t explore anything with real consequence for its characters. Barry is a fool and manages to wreck Tim’s love life with a bizarrely-timed online chat that brings an ex-girlfriend (Lucy Punch, who is so over-the-top that there’s no real threat to his real relationship) over to Tim’s apartment for some rough spanking. Then, through mistaken identity and other random occurrences of blandness, Barry continues to mess up Tim’s life by trying to fix the damages he causes with more accidental wrecks, but nothing feels weighted with consequence. It's all shallow pantomime.
Carrel is good at playing an idiot, but here, his Michael Scott routine is a bit tiring. Every once in awhile he hits it right with his delivery, but mostly, as his sad story is revealed, he is pitied and understood…completely wrecking the picture’s premise. Rudd, who has built a career out of being mean and still winning audiences over, is Mr. Nice Guy throughout the picture. He’s calm and never filled with malice...even when he says otherwise. There’s no threat to him or those whom he loves and there's no threat to his relationship with Barry. In response to Carrel, he simply makes facial expressions and waves his arms around. That’s it.
Unfortunately, Roach’s film has no attitude and no real sense of its own potential. You might chuckle over Barry’s collection of stuffed and posed mice that kick-starts the movie, but you certainly won’t be laughing when you find yourself pretty much bored by the tonally-challenged safe slapstick beats that follow.
Dinner for Schmucks is a true disappointment, serving up a royally bland dish with no real flavoring. Pass the salt and pepper, please.
