Thursday, October 14, 2010

Dinner for Schmucks - On Cinematic Irritants


I am not too sure if I should write a word about something as banal as Jay Roach's "Dinner for Schmucks". But what the heck, I paid good bucks to waste my time on it so I might as well say my piece.

In the movie, Tim (the gorgeous Paul Rudd) is a financial analyst who badly wants to climb the corporate ladder. When he is finally noticed by the big wigs of his company (Bruce Greenwood, et. al.), he gets invited to dinner. But to amuse themselves, the executives have started a habit of encouraging their minions to bring along a "stupid person" that they can make fun of. Tim has to do his part to assure himself of the promotion. The day before the aforementioned dinner, Tim accidentally runs into Barry (Steve Carell), an eccentric man who stuffs dead mice and dresses them up like dolls. He invites Barry for the party, but Barry arrives the night before the party - and in the process ruins his life in an "annoying Jim Carrey" way.

We've seen enough eccentric-visitors-who-ruin-lives many times over, and they were never our cup of tea. This is no different. The annoying guy is absolutely annoying, and the rest of the cast walks the fine line between ridiculous and hideous. Only Paul Rudd is barely watchable (check out his scene where he supposedly hurts his back - really tacky!)

If anyone's gonna invite me for a similar dinner, I'd rather suffer a painful constipation.


Paul Rudd











"Spank me like a school girl," she says.



Paul Rudd and Steve Carell: Great mix of good looks and humor.







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