Ryan McNeil
There’s been a longstanding friendly argument between one of my friends and I. The argument is over a certain TV show, and the question is whether we are laughing at the main characters, or with them. His position (and rightfully so) is that we are laughing at them. That would then make us, the audience, nothing but a bunch of big ‘ol meanies.
Our debate about that show might rage on for years, but when it comes to DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS, I can’t help but feel like we, the audience, are a bunch of big ‘ol meanines.
Tim (Paul Rudd) is an executive aiming to move up in his financial company. After a particularly brilliant idea that puts his firm in a position to land a big new client, the boss Fender (Bruce Greenwood) seems poised to give the upstart go-getter a promotion. It comes with a catch though. Once a month, Wender and some of the other top executives hold a “Dinner for Winners”. Every suit must bring with them someone with a special talent to show off to the others. However these people aren’t brought to be praised for their talent or enthusiasm; they are there to be mocked by their well-off hosts. All Tim has to do is find a “winner” to bring as his guest, impress his boss, and the job is his.
That night he talks about his mission with his girlfriend Julie (Stephanie Szostak). Julie is a gallery curator, who herself has a star on the rise after a successful gallery show for Kieran (Jermaine Clement). However, Julie has enough of a moral compass to see that what Tim has been asked to do is horribly cruel. She tells him that she’ll think very badly of him if he gives in and tries to impress his boss, even if it means great things for their quality of life.
While he’s still deciding whether he wants to embrace his inner douche bag or follow Julie’s guidance, he manages to run into his “winner”…literally. Tim gets into a car collision with Barry (Steve Carell)…a sad-sack IRS agent who spends much of his time creating dioramas using dead mice. The minute he sees dead mice set-up to look like the Mona Lisa and the twelve apostles, he knows he’s found his “winner”. Unfortunately, this poses two problems.
The first is that his plans to follow through on his boss’ invitation angers Julie greatly, and suddenly his entire relationship is in jeopardy. The second is that his particular “winner”, is a tad more over-enthusiastic than he anticipates, and as such manages to turn Tim’s very comfortable life topsy-turvy in an amazing hurry.
It’s easy to see, that the ‘schmucks’ at the dinner are not in fact the extraordinary guests, but the yuppies who feel the need to track them down and pick on them. But as I alluded to in the beginning, I fear that we – the audience – are no better and are acting quite schmuckish ourselves. The film is set up to make us laugh at Barry’s inept mannerisms…and even though he is a truly sweet guy at heart, we don’t care about that. We’re too busy giggling at the guy who makes art out of dead mice.
Another thing that left me puzzled – though it comes straight from the French film this movie was based on – is just how long we spend watching Barry cause havoc in Tim’s life before getting to the actual dinner. This movie takes place over the course of three days, but I swear there were times where it felt like a month. It’s all designed to lead up to the dinner of course, but after so much awkwardness and destruction, I began to wonder if in fact there was ever a dinner doming. The result is that much of the film plays as a straight-up buddy movie…and not a good one at that.
Steve Carrell brings a sweet charm to Barry Speck. Steve is known for playing awkward dorks these days, but with Barry he finds a whole new gear. I can’t explain quite how he does it, and the best I can explain it is the combination of the character’s awkward look (high points for the azure blue windbreaker) and his over-excited nature. But what makes the performance, is the way his sweet and sad nature comes through in his quiet moments. Barry always means well, and while it’s true that this often makes matters worse for Tim, it also sometimes comes at a personal cost for Barry. It’s a selflessness that a lot of people lack, and yet another reason to feel bad for laughing at the guy.
One character I did enjoy laughing at, and just because he’s so friggin’ absurd, is Kierran Vollard, played by Jermaine Clement. In many ways, he reminds me of Russel Brand’s character in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL in the way he comes into a scene, upsets the order of things, and moves on. The fact that’s he’s wickedly oversexed and new age doesn’t hurt the comparison either. But like that character, he keeps his eccentricities focused on his art form, and when it comes to actually relating to people, he always does so with an inherent kindness. Clement understands the character’s oddity perfectly, and is able to play it for big laughs.
Unfortunately, despite these two interesting performances, the movie never seems to find any traction. The “buddy movie” dynamic between Rudd and Carell doesn’t gel this time, we don’t really care about Tim and Julie’s relationship, and it takes w-a-a-a-y-y-y too long to finally get to the dinner. There are a few smirk-worthy moments, and for me one genuine laugh…but because so much of its success depends on finding amusement from someones eccentricity, it’s difficult to really enjoy oneself without feeling like the cool kids laughing at the nerds in the school cafeteria.