NY1 Movie Review: "Dinner For Schmucks"

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Steve Carell and Paul Rudd star in a new comedy that is based on a 1998 French movie, called "Dinner For Schmucks." 

 

Tim, played by Rudd, is a rising executive who, in order to get ahead at his firm, has to participate in his bosses' cruel game. He literally runs into Barry, played by Carell, who is klutzy, clueless and quite possibly the king of the morons. 

Barry, as stupid as he is, happens to be a very good-natured guy whose intentions and heart are in the right place. He wants to be a great friend to Tim, but unwittingly winds up messing up Tim's entire life. That includes, among other things, destroying Tim's relationship with his beautiful girlfriend and wrecking his nice apartment. 

It's sort of a one-joke premise that's stretched to almost two hours and it feels much longer.

There are sporadic laughs along the way, but too often, "Meet The Parents" director Jay Roach, loads the film with too many slapstick sequences that grow tiring. 

What does work is that both Rudd and Carell are such fine comedic actors that they elevate the level of the mediocre script. The opening and closing sequences are funny, and Zach Galifianakis, who's in the movie briefly, is quite amusing and steals almost all the scenes he's in.

The actual dinner, which is near the end of the film, is decently done, but even that is a bit over the top. If the director reeled that sequence in a bit and also cut down its length, it would have played better. 

There's a certain sweetness to this movie and that's fine, but that might not be the best thing for generating laughs. The original French version, called "The Dinner Game," had a mean-spirited dynamic between the two main characters that made the whole thing funnier.

As for the American version, "Dinner For Schmucks" is the kind of movie that would play perfectly late at night on TV, when nothing else is on and you're looking for some mindless comedy that's free to watch.