Dir. Jay Roach, US, 2010, 114 mins
Cast: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Stephanie Szostak, Lucy Punch, Jermaine Clement
Review by James Bartlett
Financial whiz Tim (Rudd) is scheming to get promotion, and after im press ing a Swiss client (David Walliams from “Little Britain”), he gets invited to a “winner's dinner” by the big boss. This is no brandy and cigars after a sumptuous meal though. Everyone must bring the weirdest, most idiotic person they can find – and the winner gets the promotion.
As luck would have it, Tim runs into someone soon after - literally. Barry (Carell) is a tax man who as a hobby stuffs and dresses dead mice and fashions them into scenes from history and movies (like a miniature railway, but with rodents). Jackpot! Tim's found the perfect guest.
His girlfriend Julie (Szostak) is less than im press ed though (is Tim that power-hungry?) and when Barry arrives at the apartment a day early and entices Tim's stalker-ex Darla (Punch) to come over, it's just the first of many disasters Tim is dragged into.
With comedy talents like Carell and comic straight man/nice guy Rudd under the direction of Jay Roach ( Meet The Parents , the Austin Powers films) plus the excellent source material of the French original ( Le dîner de cons 1998 ), you'd think you were in for a good time. Sadly, Roach has to at least be largely to blame for failing to steady the ship in what was surely a lot of improvising. Note: a series of amusing skits does not a full-length film make.
The character of Barry is the real problem though. He comes across as lonely, sad, socially dysfunctional and even possibly autistic or otherwise mentally-disturbed and it's impossible to understand how he holds down a job and was once married, when he seems so naïve, thoughtless and idiotic. It's like he's a child trapped in a man's body, but though his actions have serious consequences for Tim, over and over again he takes Barry's advice and let things get worse.
Such a disregard for logic or believability makes this more a farce than a comedy or drama, so as a result the dramatic moments seem forced and out of place, while the comedy often falls flat too. There are though some good things. Clement as artist Aldous Snow Mark II chews the scenery, but his “Flight of The Conchords” number 1 fan “Mel” (Kristen Schaal) is wasted after a few funny moments as Tim's assistant. Zach Galifinakis ( The Hangover ) as Barry's mind-reading boss has his moments too, but the fact that Tim doesn't drag Barry away from the big humiliation dinner makes him seem like a shallow, thoughtless man who deserves all he gets, and when you're laughing at Barry and not with him (even if he wouldn't understand or care why), then that's not funny.
When the best thing in a movie is the stuffed mouse dioramas, then you have a big problem. This over-long comedy misfire is certainly that. Sure about that decision to quit “The Office”, Steve?
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