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The
pairing of Steve
Carell and Paul Rudd
is a good one, they
teamed up for the
first time in
The
40 Year-Old Virgin,
arguably the
funniest movie of
the last ten years.
This time around,
they team up for
Dinner for Schmucks,
a U.S. remake of a
foreign film.
Theatrical reception
of the film was a
little
disappointing, as
was critical
reception, but there
are plenty of laughs
to be had with the
film, and plenty you
might have missed in
the theatre.
Tim
(Paul Rudd) is an up
and coming
businessman in an
equity firm. He
wants a promotion,
but he needs to do
something daring… he
needs to earn the
job. When the
opportunity presents
itself to win a
contest, albeit a
cruel contest to see
who can bring the
biggest loser to
dinner. Tim doesn’t
jump all over it,
the opportunity
presents itself when
he meets Barry (Carell.)
Barry works for the
IRS, is divorced,
has a very odd sense
of humor, doesn’t
have a ton of
common-sense,
and
to top things off…
his favorite past
time is doing scene
recreations with
mice as characters.
He’s just the guy
Tim was looking for.
Tim has to keep
Barry in his life
until the dinner,
and he discovers
that karma catches
up with us all. All
Barry does to Tim’s
life is bring chaos.
Tim has to survive
Barry. That’s the
majority of the
movie, but really
Barry has to survive
Tim.
This movie isn’t the
funniest movie I’ve
ever seen, but
Carell was nothing
short of brilliant
in his role as
Barry, he’s so
bizarre and clueless
the entire time… but
he never fails to
show the humanity of
the character. When
Barry is doing
something so
outlandish that it
borderlines the
ridiculous it’s
funnier with Carell
playing the role
because you never
fail to see that he
has the best of
intentions with what
he’s doing. Paul
Rudd is okay in this
movie too, but his
role didn’t fit him
as well as previous
parts have. The main
reason for that is
because he doesn’t
have that many funny
parts/lines, he just
lobs jokes to Carell
the entire time.
Rudd’s fantastic,
but this wasn’t as
good for him as
previous roles have
been.
Carell’s performance
is fantastic, but
what he exemplifies
with his character
is what the entire
movie does well.
What these
businessmen are
doing with people;
using them,
pretending to be
their friends,
taking them to a
dinner party to
display the biggest
loser; well it’s a
despicable thing to
do. The movie does a
good job of walking
the line of showing
these people who use
people while getting
a few laughs out of
them, but it also
shows the crudeness
in these people when
it qualifies to do
that. There’s a
light-hearted
approach to the
subject material
that never gets as
dark as it easily
could have. That’s
something that needs
to be commended.
Accompanying the
feature on this Blu-ray
disc are a few bonus
selections. There’s
a gag reel that’s
not bad, but nearly
as funny as you
would expect it to
be. There’s a
featurette that
shows and talks
about the brothers
that created the
mice/models for the
movie. There’s also
a decent making-of
feature that again,
isn’t bad, but not
as good as it should
have been.
Dinner for Schmucks
might not be the
best Rudd/Carell
movie that the duo
has starred in.
There were some
hysterical moments,
don’t get me wrong,
but there weren’t as
many as there should
have been. It’s not
bad, just a little
disappointing
because it didn’t
meet expectations.
Still, if you’re
looking for
something funny to
watch, this is a
good way to go.
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