Dinner For Schmucks

There’s a whole lot of talent in this remake of The Dinner Game, and it all goes to waste for the most part. Paul Rudd, who I couldn’t love more, plays Tim, a business exec who, in order to be promoted, must bring an idiot to a dinner where his bosses make fun of unfortunate people. Tim meets Barry (Steve Carell, trying his best), a simpleton who likes to stuff mice and make dioramas, and invites him to the dinner, much to the chagrin of Tim’s boring girlfriend, Julie (Stephanie Szostak). The dinner is funny, but it’s at the end of a film that has a few too many dull stretches. It also features an overbearing Jemaine Clement as an artist nobody would like but is a huge success in this film’s universe. Zach Galifianakis shows up as another weirdo, and he gets a few chuckles. Director Jay Roach makes this something to forget, an amazing failure considering his cast.