You might skip this ‘Dinner for Schmucks’
Posted by scasola | Filed under Apartments Birmingham MI, Apartments Clawson MI, Apartments Ferndale MI, Apartments Royal Oak MI, Apartments Troy MI, Urbane, UrbaneApts, movies
It seemed promising to pair the always affable, handsome Paul Rudd once again with his Anchorman and 40-Year-Old Virgin co-star and comic go-to Steve Carell. Director Jay Roach’s comedy Dinner for Schmucks, though poorly titled, was adapted from the French film The Dinner Game, derived from the Francis Veber play of the same name.
So here we meet corporate climber Tim Conrad (Rudd), working hard to make his way up in the world and convince his gorgeous girlfriend to marry him. All that seems to stand in the way of these goals, you ask? Well, he’s been invited to a secret dinner at his boss’s home. He need only find one perfectly unusual person – that his boss and co-workers can make fun of for the balance of an evening. If he wins their favor, he wins the promotion.
Enter Barry (Carell), an IRS worker by day and an artisan by night. He collects dead mice, stuffs them, dresses and sets them into elaborate scenes of his choosing. Yes, that’s his hobby. And it comes across perfectly bizarre and a bit charming, right down to the fact that Barry looks rather like a mouse himself, with large protruding teeth, wiry hair and giant buggy eyes. From the moment Tim mows him down with his Porsche, Barry enters his life to stay – and to screw nearly everything up.
Dinner for Schmucks starts out like a promising, light-hearted comedy. It has all the necessary elements. The dialogue begins quick and witty. Performances include some truly talented comedic actors. There is one particularly hilarious physical comedy moment in which Tim throws his back out and walks in a manner no human should manage. Carell also creates a sweetly annoying and believable character in Barry.
But Jemaine Clement (The Flight of the Conchords) seems doomed to movie roles that cast him as the same bizarre outcast. Though Zach Galifianakis earned some laughs for wearing an orange dickie turtleneck and getting a few good lines, his character had minimal, if pivotal screen time. Same goes for Larry Wilmore. I’d liked to have seen more of him.
It takes far too long for Dinner for Schmucks to make it to the actual dinner table. Instead we spend the bulk of this almost-2-hour endeavor watching Tim’s life systematically unravel. Yes, there are laughs. But much of them are won out of tension and an oh-no-what-now? sense of dread. It’s a formulaic comedy without much to offer. A dinner you might skip and opt instead for some take-out. After all, we only have a few episodes left with Carell on The Office. Dinner for Schmucks opens today in metro Detroit theaters. It is rated PG-13.
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Tags: 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman, apartments in Detroit, Dinner for Schmucks, Jay Roach, movies, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Steve Carell leaving the Office, Urbane, urbane apartments
