On the Daily Show the other day, Jon Stewart had on Liev Schieber and they talked about how they were in a movie together. And when you looked at the cast, you were like, “Wow, this is going to be a great movie.” But then you saw the movie and it sucked. Schmucks, unfortunately, is one of those movies.
I mean, it is a dream cast. Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement, Larry Wilmore, that dude from office space— Even Jeff Dunham makes a cameo as the weird ventriloquist guest.
This is actually a remake of a 70’s European movie and that’s part of the problem. Europeans have a tradition of class warfare that doesn’t really work in the states. You can see some rich English dudes getting together to make fun of the peasants. But in America? Nah, not really. Too many lawsuits.
But putting that aside, the big problem is the script. Paul Rudd gets invited to this dinner where they make fun of idiots and he runs into Steve Carell, a perfect idiot. But Carell is so over the top, so destructive and without any redeeming qualities early on, it’s hard to see why Rudd doesn’t just punch him in the face. Later, the screenwriters soften his character and make you feel sorry for him, but by that time, it’s too late. He’s destroyed Rudd’s relationship with his girlfriend, invited a stalker over and help trashed Rudd’s apartment.
The stalker and the artist character (Jemaine Clement) is also over the top. They’re even weirder than the idiots and they are not invited to the dinner. As a matter of fact, the crazy characters out number the sane ones by such a wide margin, it ends up undermining the entire movie as a comedy. By the end, you’ll just be tired of the antics, because in context, who cares? They might as well just throw pies at each other for 90 minutes. And although the last sequence is clever as the credits roll, it’s hard to feel for the characters or why they now all like each other.
Are there a few laughs? Yeah. I mean, how could there not be with these performers. But this is definitely not a theater movie. It’s barely a rental. I give Dinner for Schmucks 3 out of 10 keggers. Maybe if it comes free with OnDemand and you have nothing better to do.
