Tuesday Night is Film Night wanders back to 2010 for a comedy starring Steve Carell. Tonight we serve up;
Dinner for Schmucks
Dinner for Schmucks? Film for schmucks more like. Ludicrous.
Scathing first line, but true unfortunately. The DVD case states "Outrageously funny". Unfortunately this is not the case, it was and we quote one of the panel here at TNiFN Towers; "....weird, but mildly amusing".
To cut to the chase and fill in some synopsis detail, Dinner for Schmucks is about Tim, played by Paul Rudd, who is after a promotion at work. He makes a move to hook a big customer and gets the chance to prove himself. This is when he finds out that his superiors have this strange ritualistic evening, where they host a dinner celebrating the idiocy of their guests, so when Tim is invited, he just needs to bring a guest, this is when he runs into Barry (Steve Carell), who is a part time taxidermist and luckily, a complete idiot.
The rest of the film plays out some convoluted and farcical premise that Tim will lose his girlfriend, due to the antics of Barry and the fact that Tim is chasing this materialistic promotion, which actually goes against his beliefs and if you ally this with the fact that his girlfriend is appalled by this dinner idea as well, then you end up with some bizarre scenarios which are interspersed with a modicum of comedy.
There's roles for some homegrown talent in the form of David Walliams and Chris O'Dowd, but even their combined performances cannot rise this diatribe of drivel out of the mirthless mire we find it in.
The films follows this really strange idea of a story, laid over the top of a formulaic feelgood romantic comedy, with little romance and slightly less comedy. There are a few laugh out loud moments, but these are crammed into the official trailer that lulls the viewer into a false sense of security. Really how they justified filling 114 minutes of film with this vapid and feeble story is beyond us.
The actual "dinner" scene was funny, but filled about a fifteen minute segment near to the end, if they had concentrated more of this and less on the procrastination to get to this pivotal plot moment, then perhaps it may have been funnier. Steve Carell was very humourous, but he generally is, but Dinner for Schmucks was not the best vehicle to showcase his talents. Which is a shame, as we had high hopes for this comedy caper.
If you want a gift boxed, expensive and shiny coaster for your coffee cup, then buy this DVD.
TNiFN Rating 48%
IMDB Link
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