Ed's Review Dot Com

Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, Spyglass Entertainment

Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jermain Clement, Stephanie Szostak,  Lacy Punch, Bruce Greenwood, David Williams, Ron Livingston, Larry Wilmore, Kristen Schaal, P.J.Byrne

Dinner For Schmucks is a pretty faithful American remake of the original “le Diner de Cons” French film.  Tim (Paul Rudd) works for a company that buys failing companies and dismantles them for profit.  Not very nice guys, but Tim is a sweetheart.  But he has this bad side that has to do bad things in order to get ahead in business, but he’s not really a cutthroat at heart.  His fiance Julie (Spehanie Szostak) keeps turning him down though when he proposes, but he carries the ring in his pocket at all times.   Tim is due for a promotion and about to move to an executive position when he finds out his bosses hold a dinner once a month and each member has to bring the biggest loser they can find as a guest.  Whomever brings the biggest loser gets some sort of benefits.  In Tim’s case, if he can bring the biggest idiot, he’s in.  Suddenly Barry jumps in front of his car.  He’s trying to protect a dead mouse in the road, as he’s an IRS agent by day, but a taxidermist by night who makes classic art out of stuffed mice.  He’s the perfect idiot for Tim.  However, Barry shows up a day early for the dinner and inserts himself into Tim’s life in a whole number of unwelcome ways.  Trying to help, he messes up just about every aspect of his life in 24 hours. In the end Tim straightens out his life and figures out who the biggest loser really is.

I had the opportunity to watch the original “le Diner de Cons” a couple years ago with my daughter who took 4 years of French in school.   Netflix has the original available on DVD and we watched it and enjoyed the story a lot.  Fortunately this time the American remake was very close to the original movie.  It is a humorous concept, even if it’s quite mean.  The ironic thing is that the movie is trying to teach us it’s wrong to make fun of stupid people while making fun of them itself.  It’s a bit of a guilty pleasure to watch this, as it’s like laughing at “Helen Keller” jokes, but you just have to watch.  And the idiots are true idiots.   I hate to give anything away, as the most fun of the dinner is watching the different men presenting their idiots one by one.  Each one is wackier than the previous one.   There are some side stories that go a bit awry, and if you think Steve Carell’s guy is a bit over the top, then Galifianakis’ has gone way over the moon!  But it’s a pretty unique little movie with an interesting concept.  (If you get invited by your boss to a dinner party though, you better think twice about accepting, as you may be the idiot!).  I think everyone has known a Barry or two in their lives.  My best one was one of the guys in my dorm at college.  But that is another story for another day.   Dinner for Schmucks is just a fun, somewhat dirty, evening watching someone dumber than you.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog