Dinner For Shmucks

Paul Rudd plays Tim, an analyst at an ailing financial services firm.  To survive, they need to woo an eccentric Swiss heir, Müeller (David Walliams doing Val Kilmer’s best Eurotrash impression from The Saint), in order to stay afloat.  Tim’s girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak), appears to be taking interest in yet another European eccentric, shock artist Kieran (Jemaine Clement)—a deranged cross between Mick Jagger and Michael Hutchence.  After making the proposal to win Müeller’s business, his boss, the unimaginatively-named Lance Fender (Bruce Greenwood), invites Tim to a “Dinner for Winners.”  Every month, Fender’s top employees are to bring a guest—the stupidest person they can find.

Enter Barry (Steve Carell), an IRS agent with a penchant for dead mice. That is, he practices taxidermy in his spare time.  Tim runs him over and quickly realizes that Barry isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.  I hate using clichéd metaphors, but there you go.  Barry meticulously crafts scenery, dresses up the mice, and makes photo albums that tell a story.  There’s no question the man is not an idiot.  He’s very talented, but lacks the filters of common sense and tact.

Barry undermines Tim’s relationship with Julia, his job and the better part of his life for a couple of days at best.  All seems to implode at a brunch scheduled with Müeller.  He wants to meet Julia, who has just dumped Tim after Barry mistook her for a stalker.  Naturally, this sets the stage for an awkward meeting which, as the rules of bad filmmaking generally state, will result in a twist.  The Müellers are just weird enough to buy into this bizarre situation.

The film is peppered with humorous vignettes sure to score laughs with multiplex audiences, but it disrespects its own subject by regarding Barry from the vantage point of Tim.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to shift perspective, flip the story and tell the third act from Barry’s point of view?  You can sense every director who wants to try this approach, but fails because they’re afraid of disconnecting with the audience that instinctively laughs at, not with, Barry and his ilk.

The story itself is recycled from numerous embarrassment-themed comedies of late.  As Barry, Steve Carell essentially reprises his role from The 40 Year Old Virgin.  The story regards him as a lovable imbecile, well-meaning to a fault.  But the objective of the story isn’t so much to make us feel bad for Barry as it is to make Tim feel bad, and ultimately have an epiphany about himself.  Unfortunately, this epiphany doesn’t include seeing what a duplicitous, superficial and ignorant woman Julia is.  How can she be a curator of an art gallery and never see what a flake Kieran really is?  Try to figure out what real qualities Julia possesses, but first imagine her as an ordinary woman instead of the lithe, Hollywood-approved beauty that she is.

The film also tests one’s patience for Zach Galifianakis.  Here, he plays Therman, Barry’s even stranger boss, and claims to have some kind of mental power over Barry.  The reason his mental powers are effective, I won’t spoil.  Mr. Galifianakis seemed overexposed the moment The Hangover’s end credits rolled.  Like Michael Cera, he appears to be cast solely for his ability to annoy.

The real standout in this movie is Kristen Schaal as Susana, Tim’s co-worker on the 6th floor.  She provides comic relief from the comic relief.  As an assistant, she’s homely only in appearance but resourceful and funny—the kind of co-worker I would miss if I got that big promotion into the sterile halls of the executive floor.  There’s something unusually attractive about her expressive, large eyes, smile and witty charm.  It’s absolutely unfortunate they didn’t find a way to wrap up her story.  She’s abandoned by the second act.  It’s truly a shame that Tim chooses the well-meaning yet insipid Julia, without having ever given the bright Susana a shot.

Dinner For Shmucks • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 • Running Time: 114 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of crude and sexual content, some partial nudity and language. • Distributed by Paramount Pictures.

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