The trailer for the highly anticipated comedy “Dinner For Schmucks” has arrived and while it isn’t the gut-buster we were hoping for, it’s not dreadful either and gives us some hope that the final product will be worthy.
Based on the French (and very Netflix-worthy) film “Le diner du cons,” the story is about a bunch of highly successful and intelligent execs who host a dinner every month where the guests are invited to bring to the dumbest person they can find. The person who brings the “best” guest “wins”. While it’s been a while since we’ve seen the original, from what we can remember it appears this version seems to be playing up the relationship between Paul Rudd and his idiot, Steve Carell. This makes us worry about just how over-the-top the ending will be when Rudd probably realizes that Carell is a true friend and not just an idiot to be put on show for the amusement of others. It’s a tricky balancing act — and the source material does seem to play the premise a whole lot meaner than the Hollywood version — but we’re curious to see how it turns out.
What we like: Zach Galifianakis playing a “mind master” looks amazing, while Carell’s slightly higher functioning version of Brick Tamland is perfect (even his weird bleached hair is kind of great). What we didn’t like: Rudd is stuck in another straight-man role. For a guy who can lay comedic waste to even the most throwaway of one-liners, we hate to seem him straight-jacketed in such a thankless part. Yeah, “I Love You Man” was sort of funny but Rudd playing soft, good-hearted and fey only goes so far. And in general, the trailer has the sort of market-research, cover-all-quadrants, don’t-make-it-too-edgy feel that has us wary that the film won’t be nearly as dark or biting as the premise asks for. But we’ll have to wait and see.
“Dinner For Schmucks” opens on July 23rd.
