Satisfying RepastBy John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
"In as much as you do it to the least of my brothers, you do it to Me." Jesus
Dinner for Schmucks is a small summer feast of lunacy and silliness with just enough of Forrest Gump and Rain Man to make an uneven but at times successful comic satire about corporate self-centeredness and foolish love. This light fare will not challenge some of Judd Apatow's best work such as 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up.
Tim (Paul Rudd) is on the corporate ladder to the next floor if he can bring the best idiot to the private dinner designed by the president for his closest associates to laugh at a variety of disadvantaged guests. Tim's choice of IRS employee Barry (Steve Carell) is inspired: Barry stuffs dresses dead mice in historical and art scenes such as the Last Supper and American Gothic. At the dinner he is easily the most eccentric until his nemesis, Therman (Zach Galifanakis), shows up to take over his mind and the party.
But the real point is that the partiers, not their guests, are the laughable imbeciles, and a few of the guests have varying degrees of manic genius.
Dinner for Schmucks is uneven: Steve Carell plays Barry as a confused eccentric for half the film, transforming him into an ersatz savant in the latter part. It's not a consistent characterization even given the turnaround inevitable in this adaptation of Le Diner de Cons. The bromides about brotherhood and friendship ring hollow because Barry is such a jumble of impulses as to create doubt about his sanity and the director's desire to cast him as a change agent.
Carell's ambiguous portrayal of an idiot or scatterbrain can be unfavorably compared to Steve Martin's Jerk and Inspector Clouseau, or Peter Sellers' Clouseau for that matter, as the latter comedians display nuance that Carell can't seem to mount. He resorts mostly to mugging where the other two just move an eyebrow and suggest with intonation and interpretation.
Although Dinner for Schmucks is lowbrow or flat too often, in the summer of 2010 it is a satisfying repast if you consider the fast food of Get Him to the Greek and Grownups.
John DeSando co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com