ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS" SERVES A FINE COMEDIC MEAL

By Brian Lafferty

July 30, 2010 (San Diego)--Intelligently dumb may sound like an oxymoron but it is the best phrase I could use to accurately describe Dinner for Schmucks. It is at times goofy and stupid but there is always a certain astuteness that permeates throughout the material without coming off as pretentious. The “dinner” doesn’t arrive until the second to last reel and it is a little bit of a letdown but that doesn’t mean the lead-up isn’t hilarious at times.

Paul Rudd plays a stockbroker (or something like that) who has everything going right for him except the woman he loves (Stephanie Szostak) is reluctant to marry him. He lands a promotion at Fender Financial but it’s not definite; he has to rein in a big account, one that will save the company from bankruptcy.

There’s also another catch: in order to be promoted, he needs to show up for the monthly dinner at his boss’ (Bruce Greenwood) house. What is this dinner? It’s actually more of a competition in which the 7th floor employees bring in someone who they think is the world’s biggest idiot. Why? So they can make fun of them. “That’s messed up,” says Tim and his wife agrees. But Tim needs the money from the promotion to pay off their expensive suite and cars.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), he happens upon Barry (Steve Carell). Barry has a very interesting hobby as a taxidermist of dead mice. Among his masterpieces are dioramas replicating some of the most famous works of art including Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Tim finds the perfect candidate but in short order his new idiotic friend nearly destroys his career and his relationship with his girlfriend.

Much of the humor comes from the incompetence of Barry, who is the world’s biggest idiot. Watching Dinner for Schmucks, I could not help but think about Steve Martin in The Jerk, a movie which has been beloved by many people but not by me. The reason for that goes back to something I learned from Kenneth Johnson (creator of the original Bionic Woman and The Incredible Hulk): people are only going to make so many buys.

Steve Carrell is an idiot but he holds back just enough to make us buy it. It’s all in the details. His ringtone is The Pina Colada Song. His password for accessing the voicemail on his phone is “password.” When an exasperated Tim tells him to stay in the chair until he comes back from an important brunch, he follows his advice to the letter. When Barry realizes Tim forgot his phone, he sits in the chair and yells his name. When that doesn’t work, he hoists the chair over his back and walks to the door. In a hilarious sequence of events involving Tim’s demented stalker, she tries to get him to spank her. “I’m a naughty little schoolgirl,” she tells him. “You’re too old to be a schoolgirl,” Barry says.

The movie was directed by Jay Roach, who is the right candidate for this picture. As demonstrated in Austin Powers, he knows how to handle goofy, dumb material in an intelligent manner. Dinner for Schmucks won’t inspire as many laughs as The Hangover or Death at a Funeral but there is plenty enough to recommend it.