Dinner for Schmucks (2010)
Directed by Jay Roach
Rising executive Tim Conrad works for a boss who hosts a monthly dinner in which the guest who brings the biggest buffoon gets a career-boost. Tim plans on not attending until he meets Barry, a man who builds dioramas using stuffed mice. Barry's blundering but good intentions send Tim's life into a downward spiral, threatening a major business deal and possibly scuttling Tim's engagement to his fiancee.
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In fact, it is literally derivative, since it is a remake of a French film by director Francis Veber, whose other films Williams remade as "The Birdcage" and "Father's Day."
French writer/director Francis Veber has long been the go-to guy for Hollywood remakes like "The Man with One Red Shoe" and "The Birdcage."
The remake rights were immediately snapped up by Hollywood back in the late 1990s, which isn’t a surprise since practically every comedy that Veber makes is eventually remade across the pond, usually not very well (to name a few: 1982’s The Toy, 1985’s The Man With One Red Shoe, 1989’s Three Fugitives, 1996’s The Birdcage, and 1997’s Father’s Day).
Much like Francis Veber's " La Cage Aux Folles ," similarly Americanized as " The Birdcage ," the story here contains plenty of familiar farce elements -- overheard conversations, poorly thought-out schemes, inadvisable impersonations and the right thing ultimately being done only after multiple efforts to do the wrong thing have failed spectacularly.
Veber, a kind of Gallic Neil Simon, worked on the script of the original La Cage aux Folles later Americanized as The Birdcage, with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
But the idea has been borrowed, in greatly dumbed-down form, from “The Dinner Game,” a far funnier 1998 French movie by the prolific Francis Veber, whose works have long been adapted by Hollywood with results ranging from hilarious (“The Birdcage”) to painfully unfunny (“The Toy”).
Jemaine Clement provides some relief as a self-absorbed photographer and Rudd’s romantic competition; the character is more than a little reminiscent of Russell Brand’s character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but Clement’s deadpan obliviousness is a nice counterpoint to Carell’s over-the-top stupidity.
Based on an effervescent French film, Le diner de cons (1998) to which it bears no resemblance, Schmucks attempts to emulate the recent Judd Apatow and alumni style of American comedy (Forty Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), but somehow forgets to be funny.
Of course, convincing maids like Aibileen (a compassionate Viola Davis; Doubt ) and Minnie (a candid Octavia Spencer; Dinner for Schmucks) to spill the beans isn’t easy, as speaking out against their intolerant white employers is putting their livelihoods at risk.
Free from the restraints that tiny walk-on parts possess, Octavia Spencer (2010's " Dinner for Schmucks ") runs away with the breakthrough of her career as Minny Jackson, a proud black woman who can't reconcile people needlessly walking all over her.
You've seen her before, typically in bit parts that require her to act with extreme goofiness, e.g. the ?pet psychic? in Dinner For Schmucks.
Minny (Octavia Spencer, "Dinner for Schmucks") comes around when, despite her reputation as the best cook in Jackson, she is fired by Hilly for using the inside toilet during a tornado (and Minny's vengeance doesn't stop here, making for the book's most scandalous section).
Lucy Punch (2010's " Dinner for Schmucks ") is a zany riot as Elizabeth's main adversary Amy Squirrel, a master class of comedically potent talent, and Phyllis Smith (TV's "The Office") hits the mark on her every priceless line delivery as Elizabeth's meek confidante and co-worker Lynn Davies.