Dinner for Schmucks :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews 10-08-11 5:32 PM

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Fandango latest reviews Search movie showtimes and buy Paul Rudd and in "Dinner for Schmucks." Get Low tickets. Life During Wartime Dinner for Schmucks Spoken Word about us Vengeance BY ROGER EBERT / July 28, 2010 Eat Pray Love The Extra Man About the site » The truly goofy comes more current releases » shrouded in innocence. If a Site FAQs » cast & credits man is trying to be goofy, one-minute movie reviews Contact us » it's just an act that quickly grows old. But if he lacks Barry Speck Steve Carell still playing Email the Movie the slightest notion of his Tim Conrad Paul Rudd Answer Man » peculiarity, there's the Therman secret. The blissful Kieran Jemaine Clement The A-Team ignorance of Barry Speck is Julie Stephanie Szostak Accomplices on sale now beyond pitiful and ascends Darla Lucy Punch Agora to a kind of nobility. He's Lance Bruce Greenwood Best Worst Movie one of those who truly Caldwell Ron Livingston Cell 211 doesn't have a clue. Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky In “Dinner for Schmucks,” a Paramount/DreamWorks present a Cropsey group of arrogant rich men film directed by . Written Cyrus by David Guion and Michael use him as part of an Daddy Longlegs Handelman, inspired by the French elaborate joke, but the joke Despicable Me is on them. You can't insult film “Le Diner de Cons,” directed Dinner for Schmucks a man who is always happy and written by Francis Veber. Dogtooth Buy now » to be just exactly who he is. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated In the film, the millionaires PG-13 (for sequences of crude and Farewell have a dinner party every sexual content, some partial nudity The Father of My Children year that is a secret joke: and language). Each guest invites another Get Low guest who is, whether he Printer-friendly » The Girl Who Played with Fire realizes it or not, in a E-mail this to a friend » Grown Ups contest to determine which guest is the biggest idiot. Holy Rollers I am Love Buy now » This is plain cruel. “Dinner for Schmucks” was Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work inspired by Francis Veber's French film “,” which Jonah Hex was an enormous hit in France but seemed a shade on the mean The Karate Kid side. The genius of this version depends on the performance by The Kids are All Right Steve Carell, who plays Barry Speck as a man impervious to insult The Killer Inside Me http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100728/REVIEWS/100729988 Page 1 of 3 Dinner for Schmucks :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews 10-08-11 5:32 PM

and utterly at peace with himself. He's truly a transcendent idiot. The Killer Inside Me Knight and Day The film's hero is Tim Conrad (Paul Rudd), an ambitious young man The Last Airbender Buy now » dreaming of promotion to the corner office. His boss is Lance Fender Life During Wartime (Bruce Greenwood), who invites him to bring a guest to the dinner. Love Ranch This chance to hobnob with his boss' powerful friends is attractive, Marmaduke but at first Tim says no; he has an important date scheduled with his Mercy fiancee Julie (Stephanie Szostak). Then he meets Barry, a man whose hobby is populating enormous dollhouses and model Micmacs landscapes with elaborately costumed dead mice. Barry is too good La Mission to pass up. He looks like a sure winner. Mother and Child 9500 Liberty The subplot between Julie Buy now » October Country and Tim is essentially the OSS 117: Lost in Rio MacGuffin; there needs to be something important to Predators Tim that comes into conflict Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with the dinner. The film Princess Kaiulani itself settles down, or stirs Putty Hill itself up, at the long dinner Ramona and Beezus scene, at which we meet Restrepo several other perfect idiots, Salt Buy now » but none in the running with Barry. Sex and the City 2 A Small Act Barry is such a specimen it's A Small Act hard to describe him. Yes, Solitary Man he wears a toupee. Yes, he Steve Carell and mice. Something Better Somewhere Else seems to have mice The Sorcerer's Apprentice secreted about his person. (Enlarge Image) Splice But it's more that he's the only happy man in the room. One of the reasons we love the great Spoken Word Buy now » eccentrics in Dickens, I believe, is that they're so pleased with Survival of the Dead themselves. You cannot be a great eccentric if you're not a happy Toy Story 3 one; otherwise there's no fun in it. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse The Twilight Saga: Eclipse The dinner turns into farce and finally descends into slapstick, but Vengeance Carell sails through these choppy seas with a steadfast belief in Wild Grass human nature. He doesn't perceive insult to himself perhaps because he can't imagine anyone acting that way. Jay Roach, who is The Wild Hunt no stranger to raunchy comedy (“,” “Meet the Winter's Bone Buy now» Fockers”), makes a good strategic decision on how he handles this: more current releases » Not only is Barry an innocent, but so is Tim, who invited him to the party for reasons of ambition but not cruelty. So the villain is at three removes: That would be Bruce Greenwood as the sadistic boss. on dvd

The guests at the dinner are a strange lot. To describe them would new on dvd be to give away their jokes, and one of the pleasures of the movie is having each one appear. I wonder if it occurs to anyone to reflect Louie Bluie (8/10) that the hosts of this dinner are the biggest idiots in attendance. Oh, The Joneses (8/10) and those elegant little mice remind me of the white mice in Charlie The Good Heart (8/10) Buy now» Kaufman's “Human Nature,” being taught their table manners by Crumb (8/10) scientists. Woodstock (8/3) Spaceballs (8/3) The Princess Bride (8/3) View Today's CD Rates Kick-Ass (8/3) Find High CD Rates in Your Area. The Ghost Writer (8/3) CDRates.Interest.com Diary of a Wimpy Kid (8/3) more new on dvd » Obama Urges Homeowners to Refinance Buy now» If you owe less than $729k you probably coming on dvd www.SeeRefinanceRates.com The Conversation (8/17) City Island (8/24) iPads for only Drivers With No DUI Are Paying Too Much Survival of the Dead (8/24) $13.58? If you haven't had a DUI you are paying Red Riding Trilogy (8/31) Auto-Insurance-Experts.com Breaking News: more coming on dvd » iPads are being auctioned at 95% off Make Less Than $45,000/Year? great movies on dvd retail.… You May Qualify for a Grant to Go Back to SwipeBids.com www.SeeCollegeDegrees.com/Grants Gone With the Wind (4/13) Vivre sa Vie / My Life to Live (4/20) Viridiana (4/29) Got a Ads by Yahoo! Walkabout (5/18) Computer? Come and See (6/16) The Red Shoes (7/20) Make $67/Hr Mystery Train (7/21) From Home! Fargo (8/3) A Local Mom Shows Woodstock (8/3) Us Her Simple Crumb (8/10) Secret To Making more great movies on dvd » $5,687 a Month http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100728/REVIEWS/100729988 Page 2 of 3 Dinner for Schmucks :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews 10-08-11 5:32 PM

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