Dinner For Schmucks - Advanced Review

While I love a great drama or an emotional comedy that will tug at your heart strings, every once and a while a straight up comedy is needed just for some laughs. This week I was fortunate enough to catch an advanced screening of "Dinner for Schmucks", the new comedy featuring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. I've liked this duo in their previous team-ups, "Anchorman" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin", so I was hopeful for a movie full of laughs.

Plenty of laughs were found indeed. The movie is full of funny characters that bring a lot of funny to the movie. Most of the sequences hit right on target with the only exception being the return of the crazy girlfriend Darla. Her character was one dimensional and just not funny. Fortunately, she is only in two scenes and is gone quickly. The other characters are hilarious with Steve Carell leading the way. He has made a career out of playing the idiot with the heart and if you find him funny in that type of role you will find him funny in that movie. He doesn't get all the laughs however, a Russell Brand-esque artist and an IRS auditor played by Zack Galifinakis bring in fresh jokes just when Carell's character gets stale. There are others but none bring the funny like these three. The only character problem (besides Darla) is in Paul Rudd's character. He plays the straight man in this movie, which he can play perfectly fine, but knowing what he is capable of it is disappointing to not see him and Carell go head to head in the funny department.

This issue with Rudd playing a boring straight man brings down the plot of the movie because it is his character that the movie is centered around. The actions that he makes drive the movie and it is hard to really buy Paul Rudd as a jerk in this movie. Since I couldn't see him as being self centered, the emotional beats just didn't have any effect. This means that there is no reason to watch this movie based on the plot and it must survive based on the jokes. Many of which I found very funny with each scene being funnier than the last. The funniest of which has yet to be shown or even hinted at in any of the trailers. Hopefully that stays the same.

In summary, the movie isn't about the plot it's about the jokes, which there are plenty of. Fortunately, the commercials currently out are a fair representation for the type of jokes in this movie, so if you have laughed at the commercials you will find this movie funny. It gets a solid 3 out of 5 stars.