“Dinner for Schmucks”
Directed by Jay Roach, written by David Guion and Michael Handelman, 114 minutes, rated PG-13.
The new Jay Roach movie, “Dinner for Schmucks,” is a riff on Francis Veber’s 1998 French film “Le Diner de Cons,” which is a funnier movie because it courts a more absurd and cutting sensibility.
It also is more satire than comedy, and as such, it enjoys the long leash of cruelty it allows itself, and it frequently lets go of that leash so the comic cruelty infused into the script can run wild.
Roach has a different approach.
Working from David Guion and Michael Handelman’s script, he creates a lighter film designed for the PG-13 set that is more winks and nods than it is knives in the back. The movie is designed to appeal to plenty, which at once neuters those moments when it really could have gone for the joke, but which allows it its widest possible audience.
Which do you think Hollywood wanted?
The film stars Paul Rudd as Tim, who essentially is a nice, reasonably successful financial analyst stuck on the sixth floor of his office complex. Here is where the average people toil. Here also is where Tim would rather flee. He knows that if he can somehow find his way to the seventh floor, where real success awaits, then doors would open wider for him elsewhere. You know, like at banks.
And then one day, opportunity strikes. Someone from the seventh floor is fired, thus leaving one of the coveted offices empty. At a meeting, Tim finds a way to impress his boss (Bruce Greenwood), which leads to a dinner date with a catch — he must bring with him the biggest idiot he can find. The idea is that at dinner, those on the seventh floor — where looking down on people is a daily ritual — can toast their superiority by having a good laugh at someone else’s expense.
Though he isn’t at all comfortable with the idea, Tim isn’t perfect and so he decides to go for it when he accidentally runs his car into Barry, a toothy taxidermist who takes dead mice and gives them new life by making clothes for them and posing them in ways that are quaint, almost pastoral. Though Tim’s girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak), is repelled by the idea of this dinner, circumstances conspire against Tim to stop it from happening, and after a disastrous day spent together, he and Barry are right in the middle of it. Cue the shenanigans.
Carell and Rudd are nicely paired here, with Carell managing the most difficult role with ease. In order to be believable as Barry, who means well and is a good man, Carell also must believe in this character himself, in spite of the sheer destruction Barry causes throughout the movie. If he lets the audience in with even a trace of a wink, the effect is spoiled. The gig is up. The movie ruined.
But he doesn’t. He remains in character throughout, and he guides the film through its looping string of absurdities, with Rudd essentially here to play it straight and keep up with his co-star.
Morality and ethics eventually take hold in ways that they never did in the original film, but not before unleashing three terrifying characters — an aggressive lass (Lucy Punch) who wields a whip and stalks Tim, an IRS agent (Zach Galifianakis) who apparently possesses mind control, and an artist (Jermaine Clement) who has — how to put this delicately? — interesting ways of creating his art.
“Dinner for Schmucks” isn’t the summer’s best comedy, but at this point in the season, when movies typically take a turn for the worse before better fare appears in the fall, it comes through with enough laughs to make it worth a look.
Grade: B-
On DVD and Blu-ray disc
Recommended:
Apparently, this week, it’s all about Steve Carell, who teams up with Tina Fey on DVD and Blu-ray disc in the funny comedy “Date Night.”
Here, the actors are featured as a couple sandbagged by the life they created for themselves. They’re married. They have demanding children. They have exhausting jobs. And guess what? They’re exhausted because of it. They also have a weekly date night, which is meant to steal them away from this tedium, if only for a few hours, so they can reconnect. And yet even their date nights are rimmed with tin. Same restaurant. Same food. Same wine. Nothing special.
Until one night they take to New York City, where trouble awaits thanks to a case of mistaken identity. The chemistry between Carell and Fey is fire — they feed off each other, and thus feed audiences several big laughs in the process. Echoes of “The Out of Towners” abound, while a shirtless and beautifully deadpan Mark Wahlberg as one of Claire’s former, smoldering real estate clients adds to the lunacy. Joining him there are memorable supporting turns from James Franco and Mila Kunis as the thieves — Taste and Whippit.
On Blu-ray, also recommended this week is the 1972 Comedy “What’s Up, Doc?,” with Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neal; the Academy Award-winning dramedy “Fargo,” which always is worth a look; Sean Connery in the James Bond film “Never Say Never Again”; Kevin Costner, Tim Robins and Susan Sarandon in one of our baseball romantic comedies “Bull Durham”’ Kurt Russell in the action movie “Escape from New York”; John Candy and Rick Moranis in Mel Brooks’ classic comedy, “Spaceballs”; and the sci-fi television show, “Stargate Universe: SGU: Season 1.5.”
Avoid:
It can’t all be good, and this week is a case in point. Titles you should run from are the Jim Carey comedies “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,” each on Blu-ray — and neither of which has held up. Joining Carey in the pound are “MetalStorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn,” the first season of “Trauma” and the risible documentary, “The Dungeon Masters.”
WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, DVD giveaways and archive of movie reviews. Smith’s film reviews appear Fridays in Lifestyle, and his video movie previews appear Wednesdays in the Lifestyle section of bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.