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I'm never a huge fan of remakes of foreign films. They always seem to lose the edge that the original had. Luckily, Dinner For Schmucks (which initially surprised me for having a word in the title my nana would have smacked me for saying when I was younger) takes the French original and gives it its own twist.
Paul Rudd plays Tim, an ambitious analyst given the opportunity to move up at his firm by bringing a complete idiot to a monthly dinner of complete idiots. Tim is morally opposed (at least his girlfriend is), until he meets Steve Carrel's Barry, a giant doofus who creates dioramas with dead mice. Barry creates havoc for Tim until the dinner of the title, where the fun really begins.
This could have gone really wrong. We're supposed to laugh at a this idiot that we're also supposed to cheer for. Director Jay Roach knew this, and wisely made Carrell his leading man. Carrell has a way of playing on multiple levels, so just as we think he's a dope, he also makes his character so oblivious that we actually root for him to show up the supposed non-schmucks. It also helps that the dinner scene is absolutely insane. Props also to Zach Galifianakis, who continues his streak as the funniest thing in any movie he appears in.
I'm never a huge fan of remakes of foreign films. They always seem to lose the edge that the original had. Luckily, Dinner For Schmucks (which initially surprised me for having a word in the title my nana would have smacked me for saying when I was younger) takes the French original and gives it its own twist.