Dinner For Schmucks Movie Review

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

My fiancé is a very private person. She is reserved with her thoughts when it comes to movies because she wants my reviews to remain uninfluenced by outside sources. Despite her principles, after roughly one hour of Dinner For Schmucks Charmaine dropped the bombshell. She said, and I quote, “this movie makes me want to jump off of a cliff”. Honey, tell us how you really feel!

     Steve Carell is Barry, your run of the mill taxidermist who dresses dead mice (road kill victims) in human clothing to personify them. This is his only hobby and he is the most sweet and kind and utterly bamboozling man in the fictional world. One day while retrieving a deceased mouse from the middle of the road a very busy and distracted drive runs him over. Fearing the worst Barry offers Tim (Paul Rudd) a settlement for being run over (no I am not confused and I am not kidding). This could not come at a more perfect time for him. Tim is looking to move to the seventh floor of his firm as a member of upper management. This would mean a significant raise, an increase in prestige, and perhaps the icing on the cake so his longtime girlfriend will marry him.

     In addition to impressing a newcomer 100 million dollar investor, Tim needs to convince his bosses (Bruce Greenwood and Ron Livingston) he has what it takes to be a serious financial advisor. They want him to invite a very “special” guest to their monthly dinner spectacle. This would be somebody that understands what it means to be himself; essentially a total moron that will unwittingly act like an utter fool. Naturally Tim reasons running Barry over as a serendipitous opportunity. He runs Barry over and in return Barry will help him earn a promotion.

     Meanwhile, Tim is having trouble convincing his fiancé, Julie (Stephanie Szostak) to marry him. She has doubts about his commitment to total honesty in their relationship. Moreover, she seems to be attracted (on the surface) to her new client for whom she curates, Kieran (Jemaine Clement). Kieran is an eclectic artist given to egocentrism and being a transparently sleazy creep. He is ready to pounce like a lion (or a goat) on his new prey. Let’s be honest, this role would have been perfect for Russell Brand. Clement muddies the waters by coming across as a total slime ball. 

     When Barry misunderstands the timeline of the dinner gathering he stumbles into Tim’s life like a runaway freight train. He destroys everything he touches. He is simply the most peculiar man in the known universe. That is until we finally arrive at dinner and find a blind fencer, a dead bird whisperer minus the Ouija board, and the pig mess that is Zach Galifianakis. For some reason beyond my ability to comprehend Zach Galifianakis is heralded as the comic genius of my generation. The man is in the colloquial a “hot mess”. He is terribly grotesque, his beard looks like pubic hair and the only thing funny about him is the fact that people take him seriously as an actor. I wish he would pull off a David Copperfield and vanish, whoosh! Leave the Jedi mind tricks to the experts Zach. Last I checked you look nothing like Yoda and you are as funny as sitting on a cactus by accident.

     Let’s face it, Dinner for Schmucks pairs together two of the best comedians in Hollywood, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. Even with these two giants the movie is disturbing, sick and useless. Normally disturbing and sick movies like Step Brothers or the Brothers Solomon crack me up. Dinner For Schmucks however is just sad. It really is mental hospital sick. If you are not bamboozled by the characters’ kerfuffling then you may need to have yourself evaluated by a professional. There is sick and then there is OMG they went there and it did not work, I feel so awful for them. I do not fault Rudd or Carell as I love them both in almost any movie or television episode. They have been asked to do the impossible, i.e. making this movie funny. It is comical in such a way as it is supposed to be funny and it looks like it will be funny and it stars funny people but it is not funny. Now that is hard to do people. I give director Jay Roach credit for turning what could have been something into abject nothingness. Well done, bravo!