Dinner For Schmucks [M]

Tim, an up-and-coming executive gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is invited to attend an exclusive dinner that his boss holds every month known as the “Dinner for Idiots”. A promotion is the reward for the executive that brings along the biggest buffoon, so when Tim bumps into Barry, a man with a strange character and a keen interest in taxidermy, he thinks he has it made. But when he bumps into Barry a second time, Tim suddenly realises that he’s about to get more than he bargained for. 

I have a bit of a soft spot for Steve Carell, I have to admit, so when this film came into work yesterday, I was eager to sit down and engage in a night of laughs. Well…. that’s sort of what I got. 

Tim, an up-and-coming executive gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is invited to attend an exclusive dinner that is held by his boss every month, famously known as the “Dinner for Idiots”. Certain executives are invited and they are required to bring along a dim-witted or eccentric companion to, unknowingly, be their entertainment. A promotion is the reward for the executive who brings along the biggest buffoon. So when Tim bumps into Barry, a strange character with a keen interest in taxidermy, he thinks he’s got it made. But when he bumps into Barry a second time, Tim suddenly realises that he’s about to get more than he bargained for…much, much more. UUMM…

WHAT THE HELL!? This has to be one of the weirdest comedies I have ever watched. And it wasn’t weird as in quirky-funny-type-weird, it was genuinely disturbing and unusual to the point of being almost repulsive. 

What the film boils down to is that these rich people invite these strange and eccentric people over for dinner so that they can laugh at them and ridicule them. For a while, the hero is in cahoots with the villains, but then he changes his ways and sees who the real “winners” are. I think this film was taking a bit of a gamble, I mean that whole thing about a “dinner for idiots” is just really messed up (though there are probably people in this screwed up world that do things like that). 

As far as performances and everything else goes, there is nothing of any great significance to report. The film started bright and harmless, then it gave us the basic plotline, then it just got creepy and weird, and finally it ended on a better note with a bit of closure. I don’t know, it was bit all-over-the-shop really. 

Starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Jeff Dunham, David Walliams, Lucy Punch, Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement, and Bruce Greenwood, Dinner For Schmucks is a really strange comedy that uses humour of rather an acquired taste, I feel. I found it crude, cringe-worthy, and just plain WEIRD! 

Filled with awkward situations, works of art, interspecies relations, stuffed mice, and strange and psychotic characters, it’s not a film that I could watch again and I have no desire to add it to my collection.