Friday, July 30, 2010

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS (C+)




Starring: Steve Carell and Paul Rudd

Directed by: Jay Roach (who also directed MEET THE PARENTS and Austin Powers 1, 2 and 3)

Story: Dinner for Schmucks tells the story of Tim, a guy on the verge of having it all. The only thing standing between him and total career success is finding the perfect guest to bring to his boss' annual Dinner for Extraordinary People, an event where the winner of the evening brings the most eccentric character as his guest. Enter Barry, a guy with a passion for dressing mice up in tiny outfits to recreate great works of art. (Paramount for Schmucks)

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of crude and sexual content, some partial nudity and language

Bottom Line: When it’s not making you slap your knee in laughter it’s begging you to check your timepeice – as you wonder why you’re watching an almost two-hour long comedy. It’s quirky, but forgettable. Good intentioned, but poorly structured. Well acted, but with uninteresting characters. And for all its laughingly ridiculous circumstances, it never expertly sustains or re-raises the level of absurdity like, say, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS or WHAT ABOUT BOB. It’s clever, you will laugh – but DINNER should have been a winner and instead just leaves you hungry for more.

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