3 out of 4
Consensus: Some will find its frantic stupidity grating, but “Dinner’s” great cast nonetheless provides much for the audience to laugh about.
“Dinner for Schmucks” is the second Americanized remake in 2010 of a fairly recent, acclaimed, overseas comedy (the first being the American remake of “Death at a Funeral” starring Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence).
While reading descriptions of the movie and seeing the word “remake” mentioned, red flags began shooting up in my mind. Granted, I have never seen Francis Veber’s “The Dinner Game,” the French film upon which this film is based, but I was fully expecting the film to be an attempt at a half-cooked, underwritten pilfering of the source material’s original charm.
Thankfully, the producers exceeded my expectations. The film is filled with dozens of talented comedians working around a solid script that gives them enough breathing room to get extremely ridiculous but not to the detriment of the plot.
The screenplay, by David Guion and Michael Handelman, focuses much of its energy on the events leading up to the titular dinner and these moments are kept funny by the cast and Jay Roach’s tight direction. No stranger to film comedy, Roach has also directed all of the “Austin Powers” and “Meet the Parents” movies, and his experience in what makes film comedy work is really on display here.
Much of the humor in the script concerns the physical presence of the crazy characters, and the cast pulls this off with aplomb. The leads, Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell, continue to demonstrate the hilarious chemistry they have with each other that was last seen in “The 40 Year Old Virgin.” Rudd is probably the best straight man in comedy today and, while it is amusing to watch him be annoyed by your Seann William Scotts or your Jason Segels, it is much more satisfying watching him endure a pro like Carrell.
To state the obvious, most fans of Steve Carrell are fans of his ingenious portrayal of the hyper-moronic Michael Scott on NBC’s “The Office.” For that reason, many people will go see “Schmucks” with the suspicion (or perhaps the hope) that he is playing a dumber variation of that character. And while that’s true to a degree, watching Carrell turn seemingly normal situations into completely humiliating social nightmares is still a treat to watch; no one does it better than him. His Barry is less a “schmuck” than he is a walking, talking disaster for every single second he is in the film, culminating perhaps in a riotous brunch Rudd must have with foreign investors for his job.
The rest of the cast, though not given enough screen time in some cases, also delivers the funnies. Zach Galifianakis continues his film hot streak as Barry’s hilariously controlling boss, Therman.
“The Daily Show” continues to supply the big screen with its hysterical correspondents, this time Larry Wilmore and Kristen Schaal, who is particularly funny as Rudd’s secretary. While Ron Livingston and Stephanie Szostak are adequate as Rudd’s jealous co-worker and girlfriend, respectively, the funniest member of the supporting cast is without a doubt Jermaine Clement.
Clement, known for being half of the New Zealand-based comedy rock band Flight of the Conchords, is outrageously funny as Rudd’s nemesis, Kieran Vollard. His mixture of ridiculous pretentiousness and hippyish promiscuity is genius and enables him to steal every scene he’s in.
As stated, this movie is not for everybody. If your tolerance for goofy pratfalls and slapstick comedy is extremely low, you probably already know to stay away from this one. However, if you are a connoisseur of this type of comedy and are looking for proof that the sub-genre isn’t completely played out, there’s fresh material here that’s worth checking out. Even if it sometimes stretches a little too far, the story is always reigned back in. Subtle, this ain’t. Regardless, “Dinner for Schmucks” is probably the funniest comedy of 2010 so far.
