Review of The Dilemma (2011) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This movie didn't impress me, it didn't really seem to 'go anywhere'. Under an hour into the movie and I was waning. The plot didn't seem particularly strong, I was left wondering when the main story would actually develop to be honest - Vinces character (Ronny) comes across as rather arrogant and thus not very nice, while James' character (Nick) is a little obnoxious, so neither particularly interested me. I don't know what it is that seems to make me want to watch most if not all movies Kevin James is in - they practically all seem to end up being a disappointment to me, yet I really liked him in the sitcom TV show King of Queens. This movie seemed to lack direction and came across as rather bland and disinteresting, with probably only the one character that particularly stood out, that being Susan Warner, played by fiesty actress/rapper Queen Latifah, who works for Dodge and see's big potential for Ronny and Nick working for the company. She is quite amusing with some saucy dialogue whereby she demonstrates her faith in them in a rather over the top fashion, as we'd expect from that actress.

The boys' partners seem rather petty and generally I didn't feel it grabbed me at all. I didn't feel that there was much there to really grab my attention and make me want to concentrate on what was going on as the plot felt so weak, so im not sure what else I can say to be honest. I was a little surprised that this film only has a 12 rating, given some of the saucier dialogue as well as the odd semi-nude scene, although there's nothing extremely graphic.

Maybe im being unfair and I think in the past had I seen this movie I'd be put off reviewing it as there isn't much that springs to mind to comment on it but then again reviews should say what you think and its a bit biased or whatever the right term would be(?) to only post reviews on movie you think are decent to great. I suppose its true that im easily distracted and I probably didn't concentrate on the dialogue etc. as I perhaps should have and instead ended up checking my phone for messages and doing other things but then I've managed to become engrossed in other movies and wanted to concentrate on them and enjoy them but it wasn't the case with this film.

Apart from Kevin James and Vince Vaughn who provide most of the appeal for the movie probably and kudos to them in that the performances given are decent enough, its more the script to blame but I can't say that I thought the acting was entirely wooden as such...anyway, other stars present in this film include Winona Ryder and Jennifer Connelly who play the boys wives and Channing Tatum, so the cast offers some potential. There are two scenes or parts of the movie that are semi-memorable but only for being a bit daft to be honest, its certainly not a belly laugh type comedy (noting that this is supposed to be a comedy, most of the comedy is probably hidden in the dialogue but I was rather bored so didn't pick up on some/most of, I'd imagine).

Funnily enough, no I wouldn't recommend this - I found it too dull for my liking, not very engrossing at all.