Review of Dinner for Schmucks (2010) by Matt G — 07 Aug 2011

Had so much potential, but director Jay Roach made it a slow moving comedy. It has it's moments, but overall fails as a movie. Steve Carell and Paul Rudd are a good bromance though. I honestly had high expectations for this one, and was disappointed up until the last 35 minutes. The title of this movie shouldn't be called Dinner for Schmucks, it should be called "Guy Who Runs in Front of a Car to Save a Mouse." The only reason I'm giving this movie three stars, is because of the dinner. It was hilarious, and contains so many memorable quotes. For example:

Barry: I know that you take a magic marker and draw a little face on your penis.

Therman: Is that against the law? I don't think so.

Barry: And you put a little hat on it. And you call it Sammy.

Therman: Nobody is supposed to know that!

Barry: And you sing to it... (sings).

Dinner for Schmucks is responsible for Little Fockers being so bad. If Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Bruno, Meet The Parents/ Fockers) wasn't so busy working on Schmucks, then he would be directing Fockers. It's a Jay Roach directed comedy, so you can't expect the acting to be amazing. Paul Rudd plays the exact same person he is in every role and Steve Carell is downright hilarious. The movie also stars Larry Wilmore (The Office), Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Concords), Zach Galifianakis (Due Date), Stephanie Szostak, Bruce Greenwood, and Ron Livingston. There are also many cameos from comedians at the dinner scene. Honestly, the only reason I'm even mentioning the music, is because it was so bad. For example, when two people are having a heart-heart conversation, they put the most inappropriate music on! I don't know what they were thinking... Character development is something that was left out. Unfortunate, for you Mr. Roach. You aren't supposed to wait till the end to find out what's actually wrong with the character. The first 45 minutes are so painful to watch you might want to sleep through it. When the dinner scene starts, your glad you rented it. It's definitely worth a one time watch!