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Dinner for Schmucks
| Released |
3 September 2010 |
| Director |
Jay Roach |
Starring
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Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jermaine Clement, Stephanie Szostak, Bruce Greenwood, Ron Livingston, David Walliams |
Writer(s)
|
David Guion,
Michael Handelman |
Producer(s)
|
Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Jay Roach |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
113 minutes |
| Genre |
Comedy |
| Rating |
15A |
|
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Cheque, please!!
Steve Carell and Paul Rudd are two graduates of the series of productions from Judd Apatow that seem to have monopolised American comedy in recent years. They acted together in Apatow movies Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Here, they are reunited for a loose remake of 1998 French film Le dîner de cons, (whose literal translation is not one we can publish here). Even though Apatow has nothing to do with this film, it still feels like one of his, which goes to show how pervasive his influence has become.
Rudd plays Tim, an ambitious mid-level executive at a finance company who is desperate for a promotion. After gaining some influence with a Swiss billionaire who’s a prospective client, he is invited by his boss (Bruce Greenwood) to a dinner for ‘exceptional people’. His more senior colleagues reveal that it is, in fact, a dinner for idiots, where they compete for who can bring the biggest moron as a guest. Chided by his girlfriend Julie (Szostak) for taking part in such a cruel event, Tim initially plans not to go, but then he accidentally knocks down Barry (Carell).
Despite being the victim, Barry bizarrely offers Tim cash ‘not to get the lawyers involved’ and Tim feels fate has found a prime specimen of idiocy for him. He invites him to the dinner but then Barry turns up at Tim’s apartment a day early. When Julie finds out, she and Tim have a huge row and when Barry attempts to help, things swiftly go out of control as his ill-judged efforts have a disastrous effect on Tim’s personal and professional life. Barry drives Tim to distraction but inevitably as the film progresses, sentimentality rears its ugly head and Tim is ultimately a better person for having known Barry.
This is familiar tale of course, the tough businessman who learns life lessons from the initially irritating, but ultimately lovable buffoon, perhaps best done in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. This effort ultimately falls flat though mainly because of Carell’s uneven performance. Carell is of course, superb in The US Office, playing the idiotic Michael Scott, but even Scott would shake his head in bemusement at Barry. Frankly, he’s not an endearing idiot, he’s the sort you’d happily strangle. His actions never ring true, they just serve to advance the plot and pretty soon become very tiresome.
Jay Roach may be possibly the most successful comedy director around having helmed the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents franchises. However, his direction is uninspired although he did make some interesting choices for his supporting cast, indicating he’s a fan of comedy shows on this side of the Atlantic. David Walliams of Little Britain fame plays the Swiss billionaire and The IT Crowd’s Chris O’Dowd and Lucy Punch from Doc Martin also feature. Fans of Flight of the Conchords will also recognise Kristen Schaal and Jemaine Clement, who has great fun as a pretentious artist. Zach Galifianakis is on good form as Barry’s love rival and Ron Livingston has most of the film’s few funny lines as a jealous colleague of Tim’s. It’s quite a supporting cast and perhaps it’s an indicator that Roach knew the central story was weak that they get so much screen time.
The always reliable Rudd is fine in the straight-man role but Carell’s disastrously misjudged performance begins to grate long before the protracted ending of an already overlong film. The supporting cast keep this from being a total disaster but with the talent at their disposal the film-makers should have been able to produce something far better that this forgettable nonsense.
- Jim O’Connor |
