"DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS" MPAA Rating: PG-13 MY rating: 9 stars (of a possible 10, based on an advance screening).
In 1998, Francis Veber wrote & directed a French farce called "The Dinner Game (Le diner de cons)". This film is called an "adaptation" of that idea, & I found it exceptionally funny and well-done: ... Tim (played by PAUL RUDD) is an eager-beaver at a "rodent-infested" Financial advisory firm filled with RATS who tend to back-stab anyone that might affect their future income. His boss at the Fender company (BRUCE GREENWOOD) enjoys playing with peoples' lives and putting-down the many "lesser" creatures he finds scurrying around his rich-mens' world.
To try to win a highly-coveted promotion which he feels will entice his love Julie (STEPHANIE SZOSTACK) to finally accept his marriage proposal, Paul tells Bruce his idea to try to win-over a rich new Swiss client named Müeller (DAVID WALLIAMS) Before he agrees that's a good idea, Bruce wants Paul to further "PROVE" himself worthy of an upper-level job by attending a dinner in which he brings a guest that will impress the others as being the biggest IDIOT (schmuck) at the gathering. In other words, he & his cohorts want people they can make FUN of in their superior way, & the guy who brings the biggest "loser" to the dinner will be the biggest "WINNER" of the evening (& thus likely to "move on up" at the company) Paul chances to "run across" a very ECCENTRIC IRS employee named Barry (STEVE CARELL) whose hobby is creating fanciful human-like diorama / vignettes utilizing taxidermied MICE posed in charming but strange ways His girlfriend Julie wants to "curate" shows for outlandish artist Kieran Vollard (JEMAINE CLEMENT), & she is very much TURNED-OFF by the idea that Paul would stoop so low as to trick someone (namely, Steve) to attend the planned dinner at Bruce's Paul finds that, while Steve is sort of "RIGHT" for being his guest at Bruce's party, he's not just off-center but decidedly WACKY in the ways he often goes about things in life. Steve (with no malice intended) chances to facilitate Paul's being STALKED by a violent ex-lover named Darla (LUCY PUNCH), which causes additional upsets in Paul's relationship with Stephanie (especially when Steve chances to get Paul involved with artist Jemaine) Various other nutty characters enter the picture, such as Steve's IRS boss, "Mind-control" guru Therman (ZACH GALIFIANAKIS), additional kinky guests brought to Bruce's dinner by other company employees, etc .
There's an inspired NUTTINESS to it all, both during the main film & in a number of "postscript" comments "updating" you on things as the CREDITS roll. Unlike so many other American comedies nowadays, this one is NOT rife with constant sexual activity or gross-out comments. I found it to be a wonderfully well-played whimsical "commentary" on the "unusual" characters we at times meet upon life's journey Rather than being filled with "clever" lines, it's more of a "slice-of-life" character-&-situation-driven hilarity, with exceptional performances by Steve (who has a "sweetness" to his goofiness) & Paul (who does another masterful job playing an understated "straight-man" as he did in "I Love You, Man"), with fine and funny work by those in the supporting cast A number of people might find the whole story "silly". But, I found it an often-brilliant piece of ensemble comic work, and I both enjoyed & respected the success in which they "pulled-off" the achievement
In 1998, Francis Veber wrote & directed a French farce called "The Dinner Game (Le diner de cons)". This film is called an "adaptation" of that idea, & I found it exceptionally funny and well-done: ... Tim (played by PAUL RUDD) is an eager-beaver at a "rodent-infested" Financial advisory firm filled with RATS who tend to back-stab anyone that might affect their future income. His boss at the Fender company (BRUCE GREENWOOD) enjoys playing with peoples' lives and putting-down the many "lesser" creatures he finds scurrying around his rich-mens' world.
To try to win a highly-coveted promotion which he feels will entice his love Julie (STEPHANIE SZOSTACK) to finally accept his marriage proposal, Paul tells Bruce his idea to try to win-over a rich new Swiss client named Müeller (DAVID WALLIAMS) Before he agrees that's a good idea, Bruce wants Paul to further "PROVE" himself worthy of an upper-level job by attending a dinner in which he brings a guest that will impress the others as being the biggest IDIOT (schmuck) at the gathering. In other words, he & his cohorts want people they can make FUN of in their superior way, & the guy who brings the biggest "loser" to the dinner will be the biggest "WINNER" of the evening (& thus likely to "move on up" at the company) Paul chances to "run across" a very ECCENTRIC IRS employee named Barry (STEVE CARELL) whose hobby is creating fanciful human-like diorama / vignettes utilizing taxidermied MICE posed in charming but strange ways His girlfriend Julie wants to "curate" shows for outlandish artist Kieran Vollard (JEMAINE CLEMENT), & she is very much TURNED-OFF by the idea that Paul would stoop so low as to trick someone (namely, Steve) to attend the planned dinner at Bruce's Paul finds that, while Steve is sort of "RIGHT" for being his guest at Bruce's party, he's not just off-center but decidedly WACKY in the ways he often goes about things in life. Steve (with no malice intended) chances to facilitate Paul's being STALKED by a violent ex-lover named Darla (LUCY PUNCH), which causes additional upsets in Paul's relationship with Stephanie (especially when Steve chances to get Paul involved with artist Jemaine) Various other nutty characters enter the picture, such as Steve's IRS boss, "Mind-control" guru Therman (ZACH GALIFIANAKIS), additional kinky guests brought to Bruce's dinner by other company employees, etc .
There's an inspired NUTTINESS to it all, both during the main film & in a number of "postscript" comments "updating" you on things as the CREDITS roll. Unlike so many other American comedies nowadays, this one is NOT rife with constant sexual activity or gross-out comments. I found it to be a wonderfully well-played whimsical "commentary" on the "unusual" characters we at times meet upon life's journey Rather than being filled with "clever" lines, it's more of a "slice-of-life" character-&-situation-driven hilarity, with exceptional performances by Steve (who has a "sweetness" to his goofiness) & Paul (who does another masterful job playing an understated "straight-man" as he did in "I Love You, Man"), with fine and funny work by those in the supporting cast A number of people might find the whole story "silly". But, I found it an often-brilliant piece of ensemble comic work, and I both enjoyed & respected the success in which they "pulled-off" the achievement