Sunday, January 2, 2011

Dinner for Schmucks

Starring Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, Ron Livingston, and Bruce Greenwood

Directed by Jay Roach

Release Date: July 30th, 2010

Based on the French film Le dîner de cons ("The Dinner of Dolts"), Dinner for Schmucks reteams Carell and Rudd with the director of the Austin Powers trilogy. Tim (Rudd) is a mid-level financial executive with big dreams at Fender Financial. Impressed by Tim's ingenuity toward landing a new client, Lance Fender (Greenwood) invites Tim to a special dinner: the dinner is for the employees to bring a loser and then Fender will declare the biggest loser a "winner" with the guest none the wiser. The loser of dinner? They get fired. While Tim wrestles with his guilt over exploiting someone and his girlfriend ashamed of the idea, he meets Barry, quite possibly the strangest person Tim has ever met. Barry is a IRS agent with a hobby of dressing up dead mice in dioramas and 1% awareness of the world around him. With Barry raring and willing to go to dinner, will Tim be a winner, or a loser?

Though I have yet to see the original film, I genuinely enjoyed how wacky and hilarious Dinner for schmucks was. During the opening credits, we get a glimpse into Barry's hobbies...his creepy, creepy hobby of dressing up dead mice including making one appear to be sunbathing topless (that will haunt my dreams for a week). In addition to Tim's misadventures with Barry, we get to meet Kieran (Jermaine Clement), an eccentric painter who works with Tim's girlfriend Julie. Kieran is a hiliarious character, from his reason for why art = love making, to having a meaningful conversation dressed like a faun. Finally, there is the cherry on top of a bizarre sundae, Thurman (Galifianakis), who believes he has mind control powers and gets uber-serious over questions like "Can I eat your pudding?". The dinner is equally hilarious, particularly when Thurman and Barry have a mind-control vs. brain control fight.

Dinner for Schmucks is a goofy, enjoyable comedy.

Rating: * * * * of 5

Click Here to buy Le Diner de Cons (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

Click Here to buy Dinner for Schmucks

Click Here to buy Dinner for Schmucks [Blu-ray]

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