It could be his odd fascination with dead mice or maybe his ability to unintentionally ruin the life of whomever he meets. Whatever it is it’s exactly what attracts Tim (Paul Rudd) a rising executive to Barry (Steve Carell) a truly idiotic IRS employee in the film “Dinner for Schmucks” that is set to hit theaters Friday.
It follows the storyline of the 1998 French comedy “Le Dîner de Cons” a film about a group of colleagues who host a monthly dinner where they compete to see who can bring the biggest idiot. The only differences between the two are the language of course and the remake has Steve Carell (Barry) and Zach Galifianakis (Therman) both of whom are very familiar with the comedic genre.
Barry’s extraordinary stupidity is exactly what could get Tim to the next level at Fender Financial so he wastes no time inviting Barry to the dinner where his only purpose is to provide cheap entertainment for the Fender Financial executives.
And Carell looked very comfortable in a role he definitely isn’t a stranger to — an awkward and somewhat socially inept outcast who actually embraces his stupidity.
His role was nicely contrasted and even relieved with Rudd’s “well-meaning business man role which also isn’t a far stretch from this typical character that we initially became familiar with in I Love You Man.”
Add Galifianakis to the mix with his signature “weird guy” role and it could be easy to dismiss this film as just another cliché comedy with tired characters and nothing truly exceptional about it.
But for all that it may not have been “Dinner for Schmucks” was undoubtedly entertaining. Directed by Jay Roach the man responsible for producing movies such as “Bruno” “Meet the Fockers and 50 First Dates it’s no wonder the movie provides continuous laughs— and more of them than what is seen in the previews.
And finally, it’s a classic love story that drives Tim to this Dinner for Schmucks” in the first place and sets the stage for almost all the comedic instances. With comedy romance and even a few thriller instances there is no reason “Dinner for Schmucks” shouldn’t be a box office success.
