THE ONLY thought that went through my head after seeing Dinner for Schmucks was “Am I a schmuck for actually sitting through this?” Filled with moronic and brazen silliness, Dinner for Schmucks features star Steve Carell playing a kind of ultra–Michael Scott from The Office for almost two hours.
Carell plays Barry, an abject case of one of the most undeviatingly simple and dim-witted individuals imaginable. He is courted by Tim (Paul Rudd), a rising executive in his company looking for the perfect guest for his boss’s monthly event, a dinner for idiots, in hopes of earning a promotion. Tim struggles in his dealings with Barry and battles with his moral conscience the entire film. The message is essentially that an abnormally idiotic man can ruin your entire life but you should not make fun of him because of it. Interestingly, the denouement contradicts the exact purpose of the movie for the audience. Only, the reason I wasn’t laughing had nothing to do with the societal lesson director Jay Roach was attempting to shovel at me.
Filled with buffoonery, the film does boast some moments of incomprehensible social awkwardness that will have audiences twisting in their seats. In small roles, Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) and Lucy Punch (Hot Fuzz) provide many of the better laughs, with their over-the-top brand of absurd characters. Overall, however, there’s just not enough there to warrant a trip to the theater. Rudd and Carell, while not the worst actor pairing, do not have a great deal of chemistry and struggle to create a real feeling of comic repartee. Bring me the check and don’t expect much of a tip, if any, after this disastrous dinner.
PG-13; 114 min.
Plays valleywide
