After watching Dinner for Schmucks I slowly trudged out of the theater feeling as if every last ounce of happy-go-lucky spirit had been drain from my body. Dinner for Schmucks is matchless of those films where on paper the concept may seemed better than the execution – but in that case both the concept AND the execution are abominable. While watching That, I realized that just almost every person in the film is funnier than Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, who are
some actors I normally enjoy watching. The basic plot is almost Tim (Paul Rudd) who tries to ingratiate himself with the uppity-ups at his companion – but to really seal the deal and get the promotion he wants so badly, he must advert a dinner at his bosses house and bring an idiot on him – the more colorful the better. The problem is Tim sort of has a moral sense in the form of his girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak) but hellos need to continue paying for his Porsche and upmarket apartment far outweigh any reluctance he may have almost a stranger’s beliefs. Besides, he tells Julie, “Where would I find human colorful enough to
take to the party?” Enter Barry (Steve Carrell) who’s the unique talent of taxidermy and uses it to dress up dead mice in outfits and coif them in scenes around his house. Some of the stuff he makes is ridiculously awesome and if it weren’t for the fact that all the examples were made out of dead rodents, I would probably buy a few of his art. After a chance encounter between Tim’s bumper and Barry’s body, Tim actualises what an “idiot” he has found and invites him to dinner. Barry at once confuses the dates and shows up a day early and after a absurd series of events where he basically ruins Tim’s relationship, career, car flat and life – Tim sees the error of his ways and the 2 convert close friends. Writers David Guion and Michael Handelman, as well as director Jay Roach, must have had a really approximate life growing up because Dinner for Schmucks experienced like it was written by a group of nerds who were abused in high school and now want to instruct the “jocks” (or whoever their frustration is aimed at) a life lesson. But instead of a story wherever the bigshots get their comeuppance, it comes across like the writers spent almost two hours making fun of Barry and people like him, who butt to the beat of a different drum. If anything, Barry and That merry banding of social misfits should have been the highlight of the film and not the butt of its lame, uninspired jokes. While they don’t come right out and say Barry is Autistic, bound key personality traits of his are just too similar to the cark to be ignored. Barry has no sense of the social ramifications of his actions, he does not pick up on others’ social cues nor does he feel any awkwardness when talking almost issues that would clearly be clumsy to discuss, (i.e. his boss creeping his wife, not being able to delight his wife in bed, apprisal people he has a sexually transmitted disease).
There’s nothing amiss with Barry being Autistic but I don’t really find myself wanting to laugh at citizenry with Autism. Carrell does his best to provide as many laughs as conceivable but after the first 30 minutes most of the jokes and sight gags fall flat while others made me cringe at their predictability.
Here is what was adept almost the film: Zach Galifianakis as the mind controlling boss, Jemaine Clement as the sexually egotistic artist, Lucy Punch as the rabbit boiling stalker ex-one night stand girl, Jeff Dunham as the man espoused to a dummy on his arm, Octavia Spencer as the mental who speaks to dead animals and Chris O’Dowd who literally steals all scene he is in as the blind swordsman who wants to compete in the Olympic Games. Every single matchless of those characters are worth watching, it’s just also bad you have to sit through the rest of the film to see them. The film has some belly laugh areas in it but honestly if it weren’t for the people I adverted above That movie would get even less than 1.5 stars.
That is a buddy movie wherever the “buddies” spend almost the entire film not being buddies and actually no one cares if they ever become buddies.
The movie is called Dinner for Schmucks yet the only schmucks I see are the people who are fooled into actually paying to watch it in theaters.