....in The 40-Year Old Virgin.
But not here.
Perhaps this would've worked better had Will Ferrell executive produced, re-written the script, and posted only the actual "dinner" segment as an online short on his Funny Or Die website, because despite a clever setup and a few guffaws along the way, I can't even fathom why any of the producers didn't see what an immensely padded waste of time this actually was.
To be fair, the premise is intriguing: Rudd's slimy corporate boss (played by an embarrassed-looking Bruce Greenwood) tells Rudd that in order to fulfill a higher position on the company's slippery ladder, he must track down the biggest idiot he can find and invite him to the boss' dinner, where the executives will then make fun of and pick a winner out of a sea of zany bozos. Carell becomes the likely candidate.
Steve Carell is funny, he's a likable goofball, and he will be missed when this season of The Office comes to a close (although my girlfriend will tell you otherwise), and Paul Rudd gave one of the funniest speeches ever in The 40 Year-Old Virgin ("If I have to hear Yah Mo B There one more time, I'm going to Yah Mo burn this place to the ground."), so you would think that Carell as the clueless idiot playing to Rudd's bad-back straight man would ensue hilarity.
It did. For a total of about 5 minutes.
When Rudd's Tim meets Carell's Barry in an altercation in the middle of the street, the film's funniest moments ensue, including Barry's "Mousterpieces" diatribe.
And that's it. Done. Fin. End.
Nothing that follows within the remaining hour and and a half (Yes folks, this thing is an hour and 54 minutes long) is even remotely worthy of being laughed at. (Well, maybe the pathetic script.) How many damn subplots can you throw in before we realize that this movie has more padding than the future holding cell of Lindsay Lohan at the Betty Ford Clinic?
Do we care about Rudd's girlfriend's client artiste extraordinaire and his midnight trysts as a satyr with half-naked women in the cliched penthouse studio? Does Rudd's crazed one-night stand stalker provide any humor into the already weak script? Does Carell's co-worker played by ZG provide a much needed injection of hilarity into a movie that's already thrown up its hands in sheer agony?
If you answered "yes" to the above, then re-runs of Home Improvement and According To Jim are waiting for you downstairs on your Sony Bravia.
The sad thing is, when we finally get to the actual "Dinner For Schmucks", it comes off as just plain stupid. There's no substance of humor lurking around in any given scene. It's almost if the director Jay Roach (who's done better with Austin Powers and The Fockers) said, "OK, let's just throw the entire main cast into a room and just......well, just keep the camera running!" Hey, Jay...that worked for Robert Altman, and if you don't believe me, go watch Short Cuts or Gosford Park, but for you....just turn the camera off.
And I am fully aware that this film was a remake of a French comedy with the same premise, so maybe I'm just not fully understanding international whimsy.
My sense of humor is warped anyway, so perhaps this review means nothing to readers. Perhaps you'll just say, "Screw this guy. I'm watching this!"
Yeah, but I recovered, and was able to rebound with an episode of The Office afterwards.
You, dear reader, may not be so lucky. You may stumble across a re-run of Two And A Half Men.
Dinner For Schmucks, (2010)
Grade: D -
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