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Home > Entertainment > Movies Top entertainment stories 'Dilemma's' dilemma one of direction Sheen too valuable — for now '' — 2 stars Michael Phillips Lyric Opera unveils new season Michael Phillips Movie critic 6:43 a.m. CST, January 13, 2011 Does the show go on? Find out here

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Bio | E-mail | Recent columns Share 16 tweets 0 Unexpectedly sour, "The Dilemma" barely qualifies as a comedy. Though it offers plenty of larky scenes such as Vince Vaughn and retweet man-dancing together at the Green Mill (the popular Flash Chicago jazz club), or taking in a Blackhawks game, it's darker than Related any of the ads suggest. Audiences deserve the truth going into 'Dilemma' stars love Chicago director 's film, which is fundamentally misdirected — The Dilemma review by Michael Phillips or rather, directed in a style to be named later — and all over the Topics place in a way Howard's films rarely are. Movies It's a Vaughn vehicle foremost, and like the recent Vince Vaughn hit "Grown Ups," "The Dilemma" allows the Vaughn character to Kevin James treat everyone around him like an inferior species, swan around See more topics » with a smirk and get the last word in every sequence. Chicago is full 435 Digital spotlight of guys like Vaughn, albeit shorter. You know: sports-mad, Cyberbullies: How to stop them agreeably insensitive, sweet-underneath lugs, all wishing their Bully is now exacerbated by texting, emails, Vince Vaughn patter will somehow end up charming the likes of instant messages, blogs and social networks. Here's how to handle it. .

ADS BY GOOGLE Vaughn's supremely confident, overgrown-adolescent guyness is Threadless on social media Before Tomorrow Threadless, a Chicago t-shirt company with Download award-winning Inuit film in built on fast, rude talk, but the roles that cemented his fame allowed 1.5 million followers, shares tips for your standard or HD him to explore a softer, sentimental side as well, the side that own social media strategy. www.isuma.tv helped turn "" into a hit with both sexes, or save Free Downloadable Videos an bittersweet, intriguing number like "The Break-Up" from flopdom. You Must Own The Most Viewed End- What ended up selling "The Break-Up" — the unexpected pathos, Time Bible Prophecy Videos Now the scenes where Vaughn's character ate crow and became a www.WorldsLastChance.com better person — either will make or break his latest project, which Movie Reviews & Trailers changes tone, direction and personality every 20 minutes or so, Movie Reviews at iHaveNet.com In setting up a number of internal dilemmas having nothing to do with Theaters & On DVD how (or whether) to tell your best friend his wife is stepping out. www.ihavenet.com/movies.html

Vaughn and co-star Kevin James play Ronny and Nick, best pals and business partners in a Chicago engine-design firm. Ronny is dating a chef ( ) who has seen Ronny through his gambling addiction and is cool, we're told, because she wears a Cubs jersey. Nick, insecure and ulcer-prone, is married to live wire Geneva ( , who never needs much encouragement in the overacting live-wire direction) whom Vaughn's character, Ronny, once slept with in college. By accident Ronny spies Geneva making out with an apparent paramour ( Channing Tatum, playing somebody who's either an idiot, psychotic, a puppy dog or something else entirely; hard to say). What to do about it?

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Allan Loeb's screenplay sets itself up as a farce but almost instantly begins collapsing into therapy. As Ronny wrestles with the decision to tell Nick about his wife's infidelity, endangering their progress on a make-or-break engine design project, Loeb's script takes the easy way out, demonizing Ryder's character in such a way that an 11th-hour attempt at re-humanizing her does not work. The jokes, when and where they can be found, are puerile, and continually give Vaughn the movie-star catbird seat. Loeb can write; I enjoyed a lot of his work on "Things We Lost in the Fire," "Wall Street 2" and even the unpopular rom-com "The Switch." Here, in flashes, you see the movie that should have been: Vaughn handles a key, wry moment (Ronny's ill-advised anniversary toast to his lover's parents) with the panache he's known for. Elsewhere, though, it's hard even to track the intentions of a given scene, and Howard's indecisive pacing clarifies little.

The movie was originally called "Cheaters," which hints at the story's notion that we all harbor secrets in a relationship, some of them white lies, some of them toxic. It's a fine starting point for a lively, challenging commercial comedy. I hope someone makes it. Around the Web [email protected] SAG Award fashion do's and don'ts MPAA rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic elements involving sexual content)

Cast: Vince Vaughn (Ronny); Kevin James (Nick); Jennifer Connelly (Beth); Winona Ryder (Geneva); Channing Top 5 reasons the Oscars Tatum (Zip); Queen Latifah (Susan) snubbed Ben Affleck

Credits: Directed by Ron Howard; written by Allan Loeb; produced by Brian Grazer. A Universal Pictures release. Running time: 1:58. When they were in H.S.: Chicago celebs yearbook photos Get the Chicago Tribune delivered to your home for only $1 a week > RECOMMENDED FOR YOU FROM AROUND THE WEB Charlie Sheen too valuable to let go — for now Javier Bardem Offered Big James Bond Role (Chicago Tribune) (Moviefone) Join us on Facebook From the stage to the streets (Chicago Tribune) 'The Matrix 4' and '5': Are the Rumors True? (Moviefone) Hothouse flowers ease wintry hours (Chicago Chicago Tribune Entertainment on Tribune) What Are the Dangers of Drinking Balsamic Facebook Vinegar? (eHow) Is Colin Firth the sexiest in movies today? Like (Chicago Tribune) Jeremy Piven: Just A Theatre Actor From Chicago (ELLE.com) Forecast: Major snowfall on the way; up to 12 962 people like Chicago Tribune Entertainment. inches possible (Chicago Tribune) Are you there, Chelsea? It’s me, 50. (ELLE.com)

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tony1957 at 8:01 AM January 17, 2011 Hollywood will learn once people stop going to see their movies. Every one of the you mentioned (and I agree with you) still pull in big bucks at the box office. They won't stop featuring them in movies until audiences stop paying to see them. It's all about the money -- nothing else.

Joejoe at 9:01 AM January 15, 2011 When is Hollywood going to realize that actors like Vince Vaughn are not funny. That goes the same for the likes of Seth Rogen and . They are more irritating than funny or even likable. You can add to the mix as well since he plays the same Ricky Bobby character in every single movie.

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