DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS (review)

Produced by Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Jay Roach
Written by David Guion and Michael Handelman
Based on Le Diner de Cons by Francis Veber
Directed by Jay Roach
Starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement,
Stephanie Szostak, Lucy Punch, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Dunham,
Bruce Greenwood, Ron Livingston,David Walliams

 
In order to move ahead in his company, Tim (Rudd) accepts an invitation to his boss's monthly event, a "dinner for idiots," which offers rewards the exec who shows up with the biggest buffoon. As fate would have it, Rudd meets Carell's Barry, an IRS employee who spends his time making detailed mouse dioramas, who displays enormous potential as Tim's dinner companion.

Which of course leads to a tremendous slapstick farce, devoid of any genuine regard for actual morals or feelings. The most frustrating aspect of the film is that the cast is stuck within a screenplay with little inspiration beyond the amazing "mousterpieces" created by Barry's character. Nothing in the film is unique and all of the characters (including Barry) are self-centered and fairly unlikable, yet find their common ground and perhaps learn something by the time the credits roll.

Dinner For Schmucks is not nearly as over the top as it thinks it is, and although the film does offer some genuine laughs, it's not much more than Dinner With Schtick.