Dinner for Schmucks: Movie Review

Steve Carell plays Barry, a lonely and quirky man who enjoys re-creating the greatest scenes throughout history with dead, stuffed mice, in Jay Roach's newest comedy Dinner for Schmucks. This remake of 1998 French film Le Diner de Cons pits straight-laced and uptight Tim (Paul Rudd) against himself. While attempting to receive a very important promotion at his business Tim finds himself invited to a dinner, with a twist. Each invitee brings along their own 'special' guest, or for lack of a better term, an idiot for the rest of the dinner guests to make fun of. The employee who brings the biggest idiot wins and Tim is under the impression that if he can bring the best idiot he will receive his promotion. Enter Barry, a man who Tim accidentally hits with his car; however immediately Barry stands out with his quirkiness as he was trying to save a dead mouse from being run over and also feared that Tim would try to sue Barry for hitting him. An unlikely friendship is formed as both Tim and Barry learn about themselves and about each other in this feel-good buddy comedy.

Jay Roach is the director behind the Austin Powers trilogy as well as Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers.  I definitely have to say that this film follows in the tradition of Jay Roach and juvenile humour; but it doesn't necessarily come off as bad.  The film is very absurd, so unrealistically over the top, yet at the same time I didn't seem to mind as I found myself laughing hysterically moment to moment. Yes, the humour is juvenile but it still has a very witty feel to it. One of my favourite lines in the movie is the epitome of this. Barry is talking to a group of people: "My wife left me because I lost her clitoris. I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere, but I just couldn't find it. Once I thought I found it under the couch, but it was only a chewed up piece of gum." Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords fame also has a quirky cameo as Kieran the absurd artist who tells a story about how when he feels that his art has become 'bullshit' he rubs actual bull excrement all over the painting to make it truly art.  Each character has their own quirks and absurdities that, if indeed they were all put together in a room together chaos would ensue, all characters except for Tim (Paul Rudd.)  Unfortunately Paul Rudd is the weak link in this film as he manages to only get cast as the straight-laced uptight character, but after seeing Anchorman we all know that he can play over the top zany and be funny as well.

I'm surprised at how well the script was written by David Guion and Michael Handelman's whose only other credits to date is the Zach Braff and Jason Bateman bummer The Ex. They really bring their A-game in this film, and although the gag starts to get old after awhile, especially as it's a fairly long film for a comedy (almost two hours) the two writers continue to throw out good one-lined zingers which bring the audience back to knee slapping and clapping moments. A personal example is the day of the dinner, where Tim and Barry are going to Kieran's ranch to find Tim's girlfriend Julie (Stephanie Szostak). The action and the laughs are starting to fade when suddenly Barry bursts out in an hilarious rant about how one can catch gonorrhea from riding the bus. Instantly any boredom that I was starting to feel was evaporated by the hilarity of the moment. Another great example is at a fairly boring lunch meeting with a Swiss businessman Barry shows up and starts talking about Switzerland and than goes off saying: 'I even know some of your language' before continuing off mumbling like the Swedish Chef from The Muppets.

This movie is honestly laugh-out-loud funny and despite mixed reviews on crowds leaving the theatre I will say that I personally liked it. It kept me laughing and entertained and Steve Carell is just purely hilarious. It's unfortunate that he'll be leaving The Office at the end of this season but I really hope he continues to make films like this.

3.5 out of 5 stars.