Dinner for Schmucks Review

(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Dinner for Schmucks should be retitled “Steve Carell’s pay day.” I remember a time when this was the guy on campus. From his humble beginnings on The Daily Show, to his first big movie role in Bruce Almighty, the guy was going places. And while most absolutely adore him on The Office, I’m not one of those people. But, I walked into Dinner for Schmucks with hope, and in one ninety minute sitting, Carell took that hope and smashed it over the head with a hammer. But that’s not the films only problem.

Dinner for Schmucks centers around Tim Wagner, a low level analyst at a financial firm. When a fellow analyst is fired, he suddenly sees an opening on the seventh floor (gee, like I haven’t seen that a thousand times), and goes for it. Upon impressing the boss, he’s given one last task before getting the promotion, invite an idiot to a dinner so his colleagues can make fun of him. And so begins the rest of Dinner for Schmucks.

Let’s address actors for a second. This movie is chock full of funny people on their own merit. Paul Rudd for example. This guy, as far as I’m concerned, is the new Jim Carrey. The perfect blend of slap stick and sarcastic humor. But he’s so under used in this film, and to think, he’s the main protagonist. Throughout the movie it just feels like he’s trying to recapture the magic he pulls off in movies like 40 Year Old Virgin and Role Models. But because he’s limited to the unfortunate PG-13, all he can do is the slap stick, and except for one moment involving him crawling on the floor because of a bad back, all his jokes fall flat.

Now, if my ranting wasn’t enough in the opening paragraph, I hated Carell in this movie. I hated the insipid idiocy of his character. I hated the way we walked. I hated the way he talked. I hated that he took nothing seriously. I hated his god damn mice. I hated everything. It felt like he was trying to do a live action Homer Simpson with waaaay less funny jokes and no redeemable charm. If it wasn’t for the fact that I refuse to review a film without seeing it all the way through, I would’ve walked out.

As for the rest of the supporting cast, they suck too. The only glimmer of hope in the in this sea of despair was Larry Wilmore (ironically, another Daily Show vet). I actually laughed at some of his jokes, but they were far from anything that would make up for the rest of the film. The fact is, I hate this kind of humor. The sarcastic, dry, pointless humor… Actually, humor is the wrong word. The word is idiocy. I hate idiocy. Every single character is a moron, and I don’t care if that was the point or not, it’s still annoying, and painful to watch.

Now even though this is a comedy, and I know I shouldn’t be putting too much thought into the camera work, would it have killed the cinematographer to frame a shot correctly. Every frame, someone’s head is cut off at the wrong place. It became a real visual distraction and just served to further pull me out of the film.

As for Jay Roach’s direction, I was surprised how poor it was. This is a guy who made one of my favorite TV flicks ever (Recount). And directed one of the funniest films of the last decade (Meet The Parents). This film is such a step down for the man. I was so disappointed. I saw no passion in the film and no sense of anyone giving a damn.

I really have nothing else to say about this mess of a film. The fact is, a comedys number one job is to make me laugh. And this film did not do that. I sat their quietly in the theater and watched every joke fall flat. I say, avoid Dinner for Schmucks at all costs, because it’s not worth your hard earned cash.

3/10