Review of The Dilemma (2011) by Bj D — 24 Jun 2011

The Dilemma is a movie that I wish was funnier. It has a strong cast and a pretty cool idea for a movie but it winds up being way too dark and mean for its own good.

The Dilemma tells the story of two friends, Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn) and Nick Brannen (Kevin James) are two best friends. They run a small business together where they develop car engines. Brannen does all of the engineering while Valentine handles the business side and most of the talking. The story revolves around Valentine's revelation that his best friend's wife is cheating on him. The idea sounded cool at first but it quickly falls short when opportunities for some goofy and funny moments come up but are never taken advantage of.

The main part of the movie that I didn't like was that it took itself way too seriously. The Dilemma would've fit more of a goofy buddy comedy then a movie that seems to want to have a theme of the stresses of adulthood when the real purpose people go to these movies is to escape the stress. The movie is considerably mean in its extremely dark tone when it would've fared better if it decided to make a joke of it all. The entire movie I was reminded of Couples Retreat, a movies that boasted a strong cast but fell short with lazy writing.

On the topic of lazy writing, the Dilemma never really tries too hard to be funny. The pinnacle of its humor is when the movie wants to be mean and make fun of innocent characters. The writing never really strives for greatness and mainly seems content with its brand of slapstick humor. There could have been a lot of laugh out loud moments in the movie. But when confronted with those moments it veers off the path and takes itself seriously. The Dilemma never knows what it wants to be and it pays the price for it.

At this point I've had about too much of Vince Vaughn, it seems like he heads into projects blind and hopes for it to be another Swingers or Wedding Crashers. He's like the comedic version of Nicholas Cage, And Kevin James has been abysmal in movies and while I loved him in King of Queens he hasn't earned my respect back since Paul Blart Mall Cop, The Dilemma and last year's Grown Ups don't help that much either.

While I have enjoyed some of their previous entries, the cast of the Dilemma can't help but be an utter failure. It came as a surprise to me that Ron Howard actually directed this, a movie this bad. But overall the Dilemma never really identifies itself and while at its best moments it got a chuckle from me and some of the situations brought a smile to my face, The Dilemma struggled to keep a constant tone. It often takes itself way too seriously when it could have been much funnier, and the writing struggles when it has the opportunities. The Dilemma is a movie that, if you're up for it, should be watched and quickly forgotten.