Yum: Dinner For Schmucks

An endearing montage of stuffed rodent corpses sharing a cheese milkshake and developing bikini lines in the park isn’t the opening you’d expect from a film about a dinner party. But Jay Roach’s new screwball is as unpredictable as it is riotous and is definitely sweeter tasting than it sounds.

Dinner for Schmucks is inspired by a French film, Le Dîner de con, where accomplished businessmen invite ‘idiots’ to dinner to make fun of them. At the end, the most extraordinary individual is given a trophy. Schmucks has the same premise, but with the chuckles and wildness expected from the modern genre, and the concluding feast will leave you with a real fondness for blind swordsman and a woman who can speak to dead animals. Not to mention Barry, Steve Carell’s latest personality.

Carell is master of all things ceremonious in Roach’s latest farce, which has all the charm and outlandish cringe worthy antics of Meet the Parents and Austin Powers. You almost feel yourself pining for his next ridiculous move. Barry is a clear mix of previous portrayals – traits of a childlike hamster (Over the Hedge), a painstakingly thick but loyal companion (Anchorman) and a 40 year old virgin. Although he’s most certainly not the latter, as a back story explains that Barry was hurt by his wife ‘Pudding,’ who left him with Clamydia and ran off with his mentalist boss – nailed by the hilarious Zach Galifianakis.

What works best is that Carrell’s character isn’t your typical idiot. He’s not gormless or dense and is certainly not stupid. He’s merely socially different and his final ‘everybody has dreams’ speech at dinner will leave neck hairs standing on end and a few smiles of adoration for the lovable bachelor. In a scene where a strange woman exclaims that she wants to ‘lick cheese from his naked body,’ Barry replies with ‘oh, I’m sure Tim (Paul Rudd) has plates’ and it’s this blatant naivety that makes Carell’s character so likeable.

Paul Rudd, who plays the analyst charged with inviting an idiot to dinner to get his desired promotion, is plagued with the same character seen in Knocked Up, Role Models and in some ways as Mike from Friends – hapless and unfortunate but with a kind heart. However he leads the plot well and bounces Carell’s genious back effectively. As does Flight of The Choncord’s Jermaine Clement, who’s feral self portraits, mundane accent and single facial expression are as pristine as they are when he’s a Concord. There are moments of tedium where the comedy tires but there are some genuine laughs – our very own David Walliams’ Swiss accent is gold.

Despite having a title encapsulating a Yiddish swear word - one which isn’t used once in the film - this unpredictable and unconventional Carell classic is one dinner date you won’t want to miss.