Dinner for Schmucks

They say that music is universal and so is mathematics, but when it comes to comedy, humor is so subjective that even members of the same family may differ on what they consider funny. Some people enjoy potty humor, sight gags, puns, and play on words. While there are those who respond only to prate falls and people who hurt themselves. I don’t know how you would describe the comedy in Dinner For Schmucks. I didn’t find it very funny and I love Paul Rudd and usually enjoy Steve Carell. I guess I don’t like it when people are belittled.

Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man) plays a company man who is desperately trying to get a promotion. When he speaks up in a meeting and draws attention to himself and what he can bring to the table, his boss is appreciative of his forwardness and provides for him a little test. Every month the top executives have a secret dinner party where each of them is tasked with bringing a world-class idiot. Once there they make fun of them and actually give out a trophy for the most extraordinary schmuck. After paying to see this movie, I think the trophy should have gone to me.

Paul Rudd’s nice guy Tim is disgusted by the concept of this dinner, but he really wants a promotion. He is trying to impress his girlfriend and get her to marry him. He has over extended himself trying to woo her. His girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak) is an art curator and used to the finer things. She is currently working with an eccentric new artist (Jemaine Clement) who is getting his own show. She is appalled by Tim’s dinner and wants him to cancel, but Tim is torn. A promotion and pleasing the boss could take him a long way in the company.

Enter Steve Carell(Forty Year Old Virgin). He plays Barry an Internal Revenue Agent. Barry has an unusual hobby. He collects dead mice, stuffs them, and places them in dioramas. He is perfect for Tim’s little dinner party, but he is such a disaster that he completely sabotages Tim’s life, unintentionally. This is supposed to be funny, but I found it sad. Meanwhile Tim’s girlfriend is dealing with her own schmuck. Her artist is so weird that he could easily be an acceptable date for Tim’s dinner. Get the two together and you have just left the realm of possibility. Add in Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) as Barry’s boss and you have a cast of completely unbelievable characters. For my sensibilities the performances were too over the top.

Comedy is a balancing act. If you take a movie like Waiting for Guffman or Best In Show, the characters are strange but they are people we recognize. In Dinner for Schmucks, the people were so larger than life that we had no personal experience to relate with. For example I once knew a guy with an extraordinary large mustache. When he walked in a crowd, people took notice and would smile or look at him twice. But if the mustached guy in the movie walked through a crowd, it would cause a commotion. It was too overdone and therefore unbelievable. In my opinion this film had the wrong tone.

I haven’t seen the original French film but I have a feeling that they went in a completely different direction. I often will see a funny French film and wonder what it would be like with American actors. Sometimes it works, Three Men and a Baby was a big hit in both languages. But if Hollywood is going to remake a foreign film, they need to be careful. Funny doesn’t always translate and I think they got in wrong in this film.

Rating: Rent It Some funny lines, but the characters are unbelievable