Dinner for Schmucks

The next big comedy of the summer, Dinner for Schmucks didn’t really live up to the expectations put forth by the title and the cast.

Dinner for Schmucks is about Tim Conrad, played by Paul Rudd (Anchorman, Role Models, and I Love You Man). Tim is an executive at a company. After a fellow employee got fired, Tim is in line for a promotion. All he has to do is bring an “Idiot” to his boss’s house for a monthly supper. Each person brings an “Idiot” and then they make fun of them. At the end of the night the biggest “idiot” wins a trophy. When Tim’s wife finds out about what he’s doing, she decides to leave him.

Here’s where all the fun starts happening. On the way to work one day Tim meets Barry, played by Steve Carell (Date Night, 40 year old Virgin, Dan in Real Life). Barry works for the IRS but on the side, he collects dead mice and dresses them up. Barry is also completely an “idiot”. So Tim decides to invite Barry as his guest to the supper.

From a comedy standpoint, this movie worked well. There were a lot of funny jokes. From a plot script standpoint, it wasn’t that good. The movie is based on a successful French film so staying true is always a challenge, but the script should’ve been better. I would’ve made the supper the focus of the movie instead of an afterthought. It is as though they made the first hour, realized they hadn’t filmed the dinner scene which is basically the title, and then decided to film it.

The supporting cast was really good but there was one huge mistake. Zach Galifianakis was severely underused. The biggest comedy hit of the past 5 years should’ve been. He was in like 2 or 3 scenes and it should’ve been more. He’s hilarious and needed to be shown more.

I had hoped Dinner for Schmucks would be like a main course but turned out to be more like a dessert. The dessert is good, it’s not the main course but it’s still worth eating. The movie was good, nothing special but still worth checking out. You’re not missing much if you don’t but if you’re in the mood for a comedy, go see it.