Who's In It: Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Jemaine Clement, Zach Galafianakis, Stephanie Szostak, Lucy Punch, Bruce Greenwood, Ron Livingston, Kristen Schaal, David Walliams
The Basics: Finance executive Tim (Paul Rudd), desperate for the promotion that'll make his hot French curator girlfriend (Stephanie Szostak) say "I do," accepts his boss's invitation to a mean-spirited party to which guests are instructed to bring the biggest fool they can find. Luckily for Tim, he's just met Barry (Steve Carell), a nerdy, bespectacled taxidermy hobbyist who makes art from dead mice and who may even be a touch autistic, though mental disability is never specifically mentioned (because that would be too cruel). Over the course of a single 24-hour period, Barry turns Tim's entire life upside down while Tim tries desperately to hold it together until the big titular dinner, when his innate goodness shines through and he belatedly sides with his newfound friend over the skeezy, shallow corporate suits he was trying to impress in the first place. Based on the French film Le dîner de cons.
What's The Deal: Though it has its moments here and there (i.e. all the funny stuff you see in the trailer), Dinner with Schmucks is a real endurance test that'll have your anxiety levels skyrocketing as you wait for scene after scene of stressful, unfunny business to wrap up and move on. Like poor Paul Rudd, who's gamely stuck in this forced screwball comedy, we just want to get to the dang dinner already, but we have to wait through over an hour of setups and scenes of Rudd suffering endlessly to get there. First, Carell mistakes Rudd's girlfriend for a crazed stalker, sending her straight into the arms of a pretentious artist (Jemaine Clement, channeling Aldous Snow). Then, he ruins a business meeting and gets Rudd audited by the IRS. Eventually you get to the dinner, but is it worth the hassle of sitting through all that's come before? Wait 'til it's out on DVD so you can forward to the best moments without wasting any extra minutes of your life.
Those Aforementioned Best Moments: Every scene that Zach Galafianakis is in, including his demonstrations of "mind control," and especially the moment he takes off his jacket to reveal the knitted orange dickey he's wearing underneath. All the parts depicting Carell's "mouse-terpieces," sublime little works of taxidermy art that some talented person out there really made. The opening scene, in which Carell's character builds an entire landscape of dead mouse art installation pieces, is a beautiful and touching sequence whose significance plays out later on; it's the only truly resonant emotional point of the entire film.
Why I Can't Stay Mad At Steve Carell: Dinner for Schmucks is not his fault. Carell gives life to his most buffoonish character since Anchorman's Brick Tamland (Barry's like Brick's more functional, savant-like cousin) with a sweet, childlike innocence that elicits sympathy from start to finish, even as he's blithely and carelessly ruining Rudd's life. The gags are relentless, yes - but not once did I hate Carell for trapping me in comedy hell. I reserve that sentiment for you, screenwriters Michael Handelman and David Guion! Curse you both and your endlessly excruciating, maddeningly inane script!
The Movie That Dinner for Schmucks Reminded Me Of That Wasn't Le Diner Des Cons: The 1991 Vietnam War drama-romance Dogfight, in which River Phoenix plays a similar trick on Lili Taylor before falling for her charms and realizing what a jerk he and his buddies are. Moral of both stories: Real friends rule. Jerks go down in flames.