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"DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS"
(2010) (Paul Rudd, Steve Carell) (PG-13)

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QUICK TAKE:
Comedy: To get a promotion and convince his girlfriend that he is successful, a young executive is required to attend a dinner with top-level executives in which each much bring a guest worthy of ridicule.
PLOT:
Tim (PAUL RUDD) is a young executive who wants to impress Lance Fender (BRUCE GREENWOOD), the president of his firm, and get a promotion. He believes that if he can show his art dealer girlfriend, Julie (STEPHANIE SZOSTAK), that he is advancing at the company, she will finally agree to marry him.

Fender is impressed with Tim's drive and initiative, so he decides to invite him to a super-secret dinner. The meal is attended only by the company's top-level executives, who are each required to bring to the party one "idiot" that the other execs can ridicule. The one who brings the weirdest person wins Fender's admiration and a trophy. Tim and his secretary, Susana (KRISTEN SCHAAL), sense this will get him the promotion, especially when a major Swiss entrepreneur named Mueller (DAVID WALLIAMS), whose business Tim has helped to cultivate, is also invited to attend.

Tim thinks he has lucked out when he hits eccentric IRS man Barry (STEVE CARELL) with his car one day. Barry spends his spare time dressing up and posing dead mice in elaborate dioramas that he makes in his home. When Tim invites Barry to the dinner, little does he know that he is inviting him into his life.

Barry is soon responsible for ending Tim's relationship with Julie; possibly sending her into the arms of the crazed artist Kieran (JEMAINE CLEMENT); bringing Darla (LUCY PUNCH), a crazed, former one-night stand of Tim's back into his life; and getting Tim audited by the IRS man, Therman (ZACH GALIFIANAKIS), who has stolen Barry's wife and thinks he has the power of mind control. It all comes to a head at the climactic dinner party.

OUR TAKE: 5 out of 10
The new comedy "Dinner for Schmucks" is a near-miss for me. A remake of a French film, it stars Paul Rudd as a young executive named Tim, who dreams of a corner office and marriage to his art-dealer girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak). One day, he wows his boss (Bruce Greenwood) in a meeting, and the exec invites him to a super-secret dinner attended by other top-level managers in which each is required to bring along an "idiot" who will become an object of ridicule. The exec who brings the strangest, weirdest, dumbest guest wins the president's admiration (and a shiny trophy).

Not long after, Tim accidentally hits IRS man Barry (Steve Carell) with his car. On the ground, Tim notices the man's portfolio featuring a series of macabre photos of dead mice dressed in doll's clothes and posed in various dioramas depicting either great works of art or great moments in history. Tim knows he has found his idiot, despite the fact that Julie is repulsed by the very idea of the dinner.

One major problem: once you invite the vampire into your house, he will always be welcome. Barry insinuates himself into Tim's life and quickly turns it upside down. As a result of Barry's meddling, Tim's relationship with Julie hits the skids, he throws his back out, a former one-night stand starts to stalk him again, and he is audited by Barry's IRS rival (Zach Galifianakis). He also has his prized Porsche smashed up, he fears he has pushed Julie into the arms of an eccentric artist (Jemaine Clement) she is representing, and the business deal he is cultivating with a Swiss entrepreneur (David Walliams) is on the verge of collapsing.

"Schmucks," of course, owes a lot to such movies as "What About Bob," "The Odd Couple," "The Cable Guy," and Rudd's own "I Love You Man." But the laughs are pretty spread out, and there is a problem of balance throughout. Sometimes great comedy can come out of uncomfortable situations. But this is one of those movies that tries to have its proverbial cake and eat it, too. We are supposed to laugh at Barry and the other "idiots" the executives bring to the climactic meal. But when director Jay Roach wills it, we're supposed to turn around and love them, too. We're supposed to curse those responsible for holding them up as objects of laughter … even though we've been the ones laughing at them.

The cast does what it can with the material, and there are some sublimely funny moments peppered throughout. Carell really disappears into his role as the hapless Barry. But I kind of got tired of the whole thing about halfway through. I became exasperated with Roach and the script, which changes what's wrong with Barry every five minutes or so. In one scene, he's a simpleton who has no idea about personal boundaries. In another, he is an introvert who has almost child-like problems with sex. In another scene, he seems unstable and ready to really lose it.

There is also a problem with Rudd being at the center of the film. He's too much of a nice guy for this kind of material. He's essentially the film's hero, and the script treats him with kid gloves. Just like Brendan Fraser in the awful "Furry Vengeance" from earlier in the year, there is no great joy in watching bad thing after bad thing happen to him because he is just too darn good natured. This might have worked as one of those "smarmy guy learns a lesson" movies a la Carell's recent animated hit, "Despicable Me." Instead, Rudd just kind of flounders throughout as a passive human punching bag.

The supporting players really save this thing, though. I love movies that actually embrace eccentrics, and Jemaine Clement as the self-absorbed artist who puts himself in every photo and piece of art he churns out is as effectively funny and memorable as Russell Brand's supporting turn in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Walliams, meanwhile, is all sorts of nutty as the Swiss billionaire Tim tries to cultivate a relationship with to impress Greenwood. And in smaller roles, Lucy Punch as the deranged former one-night-stand and Kristen Schaal as Tim's unscrupulous secretary also score.

There is a sharper film struggling to get out here. Because it doesn't, though, I can only give "Schmucks" a 5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)




Reviewed July 28, 2010 / Posted July 30, 2010


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