Review-Dinner for Schmucks

Clan Papageorgiou has a very specific ritual for the birthday of its matriarch: Dinner at The Cheesecake Factory followed by a trip to the movies for a comedy and then cake and ice cream back at Papageorgiou Estates (that sounds so much nicer than “single-floor gerbil cage that I grew up in.”) My family loves one another, but madre’s birthday usually translates to a bloodbath every year: There’s typically a fight in the car because she’s screaming that my driving will result in our flaming demise followed by smoldering resentment at the dinner table that invariably erupts before the entrees arrive. The promise of a comedy that will make us laugh away our urge to bury cutlery in one-another’s aortas is the social lubricant that gets us through the evening. This year, that duty fell to Jay Roach’s Dinner for Schmucks.


I’ll keep the plot details simple because anyone going to see this movie is simply a fan of Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and/or Zach Galifianakis and would watch a remake of Leprechaun in the Hood if it featured them. Rudd plays Tim, an ambitious company man who wants to secure a promotion and fit in with upper management to woo his girlfriend Julie (the classily porkable Stephanie Szostak) by securing the biggest oddball he can for the company’s annual “dinner for winners,” where guys try to one-up each other by seeing whose weirdo guest is the weirdest. Enter Carell as Barry, a sweet but strange guy who winds up Tim’s choice for the aforementioned dinner, and Galifianakis as Thurman, Barry’s vindictive boss and a fellow dinner guest.


Everyone knows how this type of story pans out: Tim’s corporate ambitions, geared toward winning Julie’s heart, only serve to drive her away and potentially into the arms of another (played in this case by Flight of the Conchord‘s Jemaine Clement who is the film’s highlight). Meanwhile, Barry, who honestly thinks he’s become friends with Tim, learns the evil truth of Tim’s intentions and rebukes him, causing Tim to question the person he’s recently become. Luckily, Tim comes to his senses in the film’s climax, gets the girl, proves to Barry he’s actually a nice person and, for good measure, Barry gets revenge on his asshole boss. There it is, the most original plot ever conceived by mortal minds. I feel like I just explained Memento. Whew.


So, is Dinner for Schmucks worth your time this weekend? Not according to Mother Papageorgiou, aka Mamageorgiou, who could only walk out of the theater shaking her head. “What an undisciplined script. Those writers must have smoked too much pot. That was just not funny.” And, in spite of the difference in our ages and my knowledge that one puff of a joint does not cause your brain to melt out of your ears, I have to agree with the old gal. Rudd is used as the straight man, meaning all he brings to the table is the labyrinth of his smokey eyes and 90 minutes of questioning your heterosexuality (forgive me, my finger slipped and accidentally hit the “Homo Lock” key). Carell is his usual engaging self, and you certainly smile as he works his magic on screen, but there aren’t many big laughs to be had. In fact, the only thing that got me laughing hard throughout the film were a series of props used by Carell’s character that I won’t mention to avoid spoiling the goods. Leave Dinner for Schmucks for a lazy, HBO-watching Saturday night. Maybe go and watch The Other Guys (which I haven’t seen yet because that would be timely and relevant of me), instead. Or just save your loot for The Expendables which comes out August 13 and will win the Oscar for “Best Everything, Ever.”

Tagged as: Dinner for Schmucks, Movie Review, Paull Rudd, Stephanie Szostak, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis.