Cringe comedies – films or TV series that ask us to laugh at a character's unrelenting misadventures – are an acquired taste. They can often feel as mean-spirited, or the constant misfortune can get dull after a while (The Life & Times of Tim, anyone?).
Thankfully, Paramount's Dinner for Schmucks – "inspired by" the 1998 French comedy Le Dîner de Cons – is saved by the presence of Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, who turn what could have been an exercise in cruelty into high comedy. With Rudd acting as the shell-shocked straight man to Carell's goofy geek, they feed off each other in a way that only the best comedy duos can.
Spyglass Entertainment, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures Produce Dinner for Schmucks
Tim (Paul Rudd) is a low-level executive trying to move up the food chain at Fender Financial. When he catches the attention of his boss Lance Fender (Bruce Greenwood), the financier invites Tim to a monthly dinner at his mansion. The catch? Tim has to find a socially maladjusted individual, and bring him to the event as his guest. Tim's chances of success hinge on him finding the perfect schmuck for Fender and the other executives to discreetly mock.
Enter Barry (Steve Carell) a nerdy IRS auditor who makes copies of famous paintings using dead mice. But clueless Barry decides that he's Tim's best friend which has catastrophic consequences for Tim's life, jeopardizing his career and sending his girlfriend (Stephanie Szostak) into the arms of a self-obsessed artist (Jemaine Clement).
On paper, this film should have descended into tedium by the half-hour mark. Barry is one of those characters who only appear in Hollywood: ostensibly a well-meaning disaster but who decides in one sequence to destroy Tim's apartment with ballistic wine bottles. Why? Because the script demands he does. Unfortunately, this isn't the only time a character is asked to be dumb in order to further the plot.
However, Carell is a past master at making even the viewer sympathize with the most unlikely characters. He brings Barry an aching vulnerability that makes you care about him even when he's destroying Tim's world. While you never quite understand why he continues to be so clueless, you sympathize with the tears this clown quietly cries.
In contrast, Rudd – who, to quote a nearby moviegoer, "looks like a younger, less scary Stephen Moyer" – not only underplays his role to allow Carell more room to riff but also makes his executive character more sympathetic to the audience. It's easy for the straight man to get lost amidst his partner's hijinks but Rudd knows how to hold his own while letting his reactive performance drive Carell to new heights.
The rest of the cast is solid, but Jemaine Clement's Kieran steals nearly every scene he's in as an artist whose "animal magnetism" drives up Tim's blood pressure. This role could have indulged any actor's worst impulses but Clement's smart enough to keep it just this side of over-the-top. Stephanie Szostak also earns kudos as Rudd's suffering girlfriend and moral anchor; in too many movies the love interest is an afterthought, but Rudd and Szostak's chemistry make their relationship plausible.
However, it's the brilliant push-and-pull between Carell and Rudd – honed in previous collaborations like Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin – that take this film farther than it perhaps deserves.
Steve Carell and Paul Rudd Make a Great Comedy Team in Dinner for Schmucks
This movie is less an exercise in great filmmaking than a chance to see two great comedic actors play off each other. In a perfect world, Carell and Rudd would get more chances to work together: they deliver great performances here, but just imagine what they could do with a better script?
Dinner for Schmucks gets a 3/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
Join the Conversation