Carell and Clement Are Endearingly Odd in Dinner for Schmucks

I’ve been seeing a lot of promotion lately for Dinner for Schmucks, the Jay Roach-directed comedy that opens this weekend, but all those ads didn’t manage to give me a very clear idea of what the movie was about. All that really stuck with me was the fact that one of the stars was a distinctly odd-looking Steve Carell and that based on the quick clips shown in the previews, it looked pretty stupid. I was much more interested in Carell’s other movie, Despicable Me, but when my friend suggested we go see the schmucks, I was game. It turned out to be one of those movies I’m glad someone else suggested; I wouldn’t have gone on my own, but I ended up really liking it.

While it is Carell’s performance that really drives the action of the movie, Paul Rudd is the main character here, which I found interesting, since I last saw him in I Love You, Man, in which he plays a man on the verge of marriage whose engagement and life in general become overhauled when he meets the strange man who will quickly become his best friend. In this movie, he’s in a solid relationship, but he and artistic Frenchwoman Julie (Stephanie Szostak) are not yet engaged, much to his dismay. Tim is a clever, resourceful guy who is willing to do his homework in order to get ahead at the office. When a promotion pops up, his initiative and extensive research place him in an ideal opportunity to advance. But then complication arise...

Those complications come mostly courtesy of Carell’s Barry, a sweetly eccentric IRS agent who spends all of his free time building dioramas and scouting out tiny, already-deceased residents to fill them. Like most of Carell’s characters, Barry is endearingly naive, with character quirks that cause him to appear quite moronic. He has spectacles, an absurd set of teeth that cause him to talk strangely and an absolute inability to pick up on most basic social cues. And once Tim dramatically enters his life - in a manner that serves as a blatant warning about the dangers of driving while using a cell phone - he’s stuck with Barry, who is desperate to do all he can to assist his new (and only) friend.

Tim immediately sees in Barry his ticket to that bigger office, since he seems the perfect candidate for the top-secret dinner upon which his promotion largely hinges. The tradition? Each person from the office brings someone with a strange ability to dinner, and by the end of the night, one of them will be awarded a trophy. What the winner will be too clueless to realize is the fact that he and his fellow guests have only been invited so these executives can have a laugh at their expense. As soon as Julie learns of the dinner, she is horrified, and this is the cause of the initial friction between her and Tim. Barry sets off a series of mishaps exacerbating their problems, but it all boils down to the fact that this job has turned Tim into someone who does despicable things.

I was surprised at how much I came to like Julie so quickly. In these types of movies, there’s usually at least some question as to whether the main character might be better off without his current girlfriend. Usually there is a grating side to her personality, but Julie is utterly charming in one of the few straightman roles in the movie. I’d never seen Szostak in a movie before, but I’ll keep an eye out for her name; her radiant performance as the vulnerable but fiercely moral Julie won me over completely.

Also reeling me in was Flight of the Conchords‘ Jemaine Clement as Kieran, the artist whose show Julie is in the midst of curating. Though I’ve found Clement hilarious ever since his run of ads for Outback Steakhouse several years ago, I failed to recognize him in the previews. That’s not so surprising, however, since he plays a completely different character than the painfully awkward version of himself I grew used to seeing on his short-lived HBO sit-com. This long-haired incarnation of Clement bristles with brazen intensity. Julie and Barry both refer to his appeal as “animal magnetism,” and he’s certainly tapped into something visceral by surrounding himself with exotic wildlife at his ranch.

Unflappable and virile, he initially comes across as narcissistic since he is the focal point of every one of his carefully composed photographs, which depict him in animalistic costumes against provocative backdrops, but there’s something very Zen about his approach to the world. He’s an oddball, to be sure, but he’s also refreshingly honest and attuned to the emotions of others, and although he’s a rival for Julie’s affections, I found it impossible not to like him.

Although fellow FotC alum Kristen Schaal never shares the screen with Clement, it’s fun to see them both appear in the same movie. Her role is much smaller than his; she plays Tim’s personal assistant, who desperately wants Tim to make a play for power so she can move up to the seventh floor with him. Carell isn’t the only familiar face from The Office, either; Larry Wilmore, who plays a drab fellow from corporate trying to clean up Michael Scott’s messes in several episodes, portrays an officemate who would horrify that uber-politically correct character. Among the many other minor players, the one who caught my eye most was Patrick Fischler. Here, he’s Vincenzo, a bandaged vulture handler whose control over his bird is less than complete, while I know him as beady-eyed Dharma drone Phil on LOST.

Exuding a sort of smarmy executive charm is Bruce Greenwood as Tim’s boss Lance Fender, who tries to dismiss this young go-getter but finds himself increasingly impressed. While this is a man who seems to delight in the misfortunes of others, his charisma makes Lance’s crass nature harder to see. Same goes for Mueller (David Walliams), the Swiss businessman whose support is so crucial to the future success of the company. Mueller comes across as very sophisticated, and he’s pleased with Tim’s smooth attempts to court his favor, but before the movie is over, we get to see just how undignified he can be.

In many ways, this movie reminded me of the comedy What About Bob?, in which a psychiatrist played by Richard Dreyfuss has his perfect weekend obliterated by the affable patient who crashes his family getaway. This uptight professional on the cusp of the greatest triumph of his career watches in horror as his wife and children become attached to disaster-prone Bob, whose presence poses a grave threat to his big break. Barry is an incredibly sympathetic character, but some of his actions truly are idiotic, and when Tim’s mouth twitches in suppressed rage, it’s easy to understand why.

It’s a comedy of extravagant errors, and the resulting wanton destruction is my least favorite element of the movie. That sort of thing always makes me cringe a bit, whether it’s in Mouse Hunt or Bean. Both of those movies aim at a younger audience; Dinner for Schmucks is clearly for adults, with no characters under the age of 20 and a fair amount of sensuality. There’s also a smattering of profanity, though that’s kept to a minimum; more potentially offensive is a scene involving Barry’s artistic representation of The Last Supper, but everything Barry does is so earnest that while Tim’s reactions bugged me, the initial artwork seems almost reverent.

Barry, for all his eccentricities, is an exceptionally talented artisan. His attention to detail is astounding, as we see in the whimsical opening sequence set to the Beatles’ Fool on the Hill. It may sound a bit morbid to turn taxidermied mice into works of art, but his intricate displays pop with a candy-coated joy that reminds me of Pushing Daisies. This is a lonely man who has not had much success in life, but his ability to see the best in every situation clearly comes across in his artwork.

While I’ve become a pretty solid fan of Carell in recent years, I had serious doubts about Dinner for Schmucks. It’s a gentler film than I expected, and while it does have its crude and painfully disastrous moments, I spent a majority of the movie with a smile on my face. My conclusion? This bunch of schmucks did all right.

Jason Segel Gets Freaky Again in I Love You, Man

I go to see movies at the theater for a variety of reasons. One draw lately has been the presence of actors and actresses from favorite television shows as they branch out into films. Freaks and Geeks and The Office got me interested in I Love You, Man, a buddy comedy featuring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones as Sydney and Zooey, the two most important people in the life of socially awkward real estate agent Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd). The R rating might have scared me off of buying a ticket, but I couldn't resist the free preview, so this evening I enjoyed a girls' night out watching a movie all about male bonding.

Judd Apatow isn't attached to this movie in any way, but director John Hamburg, who wrote the screenplay with Larry Levin, seems to be taking a leaf from Apatow's book. The comedy is extremely raunchy, but it also has a lot of heart. Aside from the occasional superfluous f-bomb and some alluded-to pre-marital nocturnal activities, real estate agent Peter is a PG kind of guy living in an R-rated world. He's sweet and considerate, a romantic who is attentive to his girlfriend and respectful to women in general. Around men, he's a little more uncomfortable, partly because he somehow is surrounded by a bunch of boorish brutes, like office frenemy Tevin (Rob Huebel), who laughs uproariously over inappropriate videos and tries to weasel in on Peter's commission, and Barry (Jon Favreau), the aggressive, confrontational husband of Zooey's friend Denise (Jaime Pressly). It isn't until he proposes and Zooey celebrates the news with her gal pals that his lack of male friendships really hits home.

Thus, the first part of the movie finds Peter rather pathetically pursuing a friend of his own through a series of disastrous "man dates" that include poker night with a bunch of beer-swilling hotheads, a soccer game with an excitable guy who sounds like a Muppet and dinner with a fellow who's a little too companionable for comfort. As is so often the case, however, the "aha!" moment comes when Peter isn't looking for it. He stumbles upon the uninhibited Sydney by accident and is taken aback by his candor and their easy rapport with each other. Friendship blooms. Sydney, who supports himself with an investment career but otherwise lives in an extended state of adolescence, begins to bring Peter out of his shell. Peter's happy, and Zooey is happy for him - until it starts to seem like Sydney has taken over his life...

I was a big fan of Nick Andopolis, the earnest, gentle, perpetually stoned teen Segel played on Freaks and Geeks. Sydney is like him in some ways, particularly in his fondness for jamming in his garage. Like Nick, he's a goofball but a good friend. However, he is much more attuned to the world around him than Nick is, and he's got a fairly crass attitude about relationships, especially his own. While I definitely prefer Nick, Sydney is a pretty good guy, and his cleverness comes across particularly well in one scene that requires keeping a close eye on the screen. Jones never really won me over on The Office, but then I suspect she wasn't supposed to. Instead of an icy romantic rival, she's a warm, caring woman here, very much in love with her fiance and eager to show him affection while leaving him space to develop his own interests and friendships. It would have been very easy in a movie like this to turn the wife-to-be into a shrew, but she doesn't come across that way at all. There's never much doubt that these two are an ideal couple. (While we're on the subject of favorite television shows, fellow LOST fans should keep an eye out for a reference that made my friend and me squeal for all in the packed house to hear.)

Some of the more innocent humor in the film derives from Peter's mangled attempts to sound suave when talking with others, particularly Sydney. The results are so ridiculous that I found myself thinking of bumbling Tim nonsensically regurgitating Wilson's sage advice on Home Improvement. I also like the dynamics of his family, particularly between his dad (J. K. Simmons) and brother Robbie (Andy Samberg), who both care for Peter deeply but don't seem to understand him as well as his doting mother (Jane Curtin) does. As a big fan of Saturday Night Live, particularly since his arrival, I could have done with more Samberg, but his scenes do a good job of establishing the dynamics of Peter and Robbie's brotherhood. Unfortunately, for every touching family moment or guilt-free laugh, there is an entirely too anatomical joke or a monologue filled with four-letter words. The profanity is fairly pervasive, and some of the sexually charged subject matter is likely to offend, while a running joke involving dog defecation is distasteful at best. The plus side is that most of the really lewd stuff is verbal rather than visual, so while this movie earns its R rating many times over, it's still considerably less graphic than it could have been.

As with just about every R-rated comedy I've ever seen, I walked away thinking, "Well, I would have liked that better if it had been PG-13." Put my objections to the conventions of contemporary "adult" comedies aside, though, and you've got a movie with a fair number of laughs and a trio of characters you just can't help but root for.

Seth Rogen Follows in Steve Carell's Footsteps in Knocked Up

A few years ago, if I had seen the trailers for Judd Apatow's Knocked Up, I probably would not have said to myself, "Now, that is a movie I need to see." One-night stands? Potty humor? Excessive profanity? R rating? Sounds more like something to avoid. But as much as those factors caused me to question how much I would enjoy the film, I couldn't help but be intrigued; Apatow's Freaks and Geeks, which I embraced when it arrived on DVD, was a brilliant show, and while The 40-Year-Old Virgin was pretty crude for my tastes, it had heart. So after hearing many gushing reviews, I decided I'd better check out Knocked Up and see if it lived up to the hype.

The first thing I'll say for Apatow is that he is loyal. No fewer than five Freaks and Geeks alums put in an appearance, starting with Seth Rogen as kind but clueless schlub Ben Stone, whose drunken shenanigans with Allison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a beautiful, ambitious young correspondent who has just received a promotion, lead to her pregnancy. While Rogen's character was the least developed of the "freak" crowd of which he was a part on Freaks and Geeks, he made a strong impression nonetheless, and when he showed up in Virgin, this time in a chattier role, it became easier to envision him as a leading man. Ben may be a loser who's never worked and whose last name seems to be a nod to his favorite activity, but he really carries the movie, especially when we realize that despite his inertia and rather foul mouth, he's actually a very sweet guy.

Other familiar faces from Freaks and Geeks include Jason Segel and Martin Starr as two of Ben's perpetually stoned housemates. There are echoes of their characters from that show in their performances here; Jason is intense to an intimidating level, while Martin is put upon by the others. (The quartet of guys with whom Ben resides all share a first name with the actors who portray them; the other two are played by Jonah Hill, who had a brief but memorable role in Virgin, and Jay Baruchel, from Apatow's short-lived television series Undeclared.) James Franco shows up as himself putting in a plug for Spider-man 3, which several characters later go see, perhaps in a sly show of support for Franco by Apatow, who not only directed Knocked Up but wrote the script. Leslie Mann, who had a brief role on Freaks and Geeks as a teacher on whom Bill had a crush and in Virgin as a disastrous potential date for Andy, plays Allison's shrill sister Debbie, whose seemingly ideal marriage to the melancholy Pete (Paul Rudd, from Virgin) is crumbling despite the presence of two adorable daughters (Maude and Iris Apatow).

Among the few cast members without a previous Apatow connection, Harold Ramis, who looks and sounds remarkably like Rogen, is both funny and tender as Ben's dad, and SNL cast member Kristen Wiig is hilarious as Jill, a higher-up who quietly offers Allison icily insincere congratulations for landing a plum position. Bill Hader, also of SNL, doesn't stand out much as Allison's co-worker Brent but is still amusing, as is Alan Tudyk as Jack, her too-cheerful boss.

All of these characters add to the film in one way or another, but the success of the movie really depends upon Rogen and Heigl, and they play off one another very well. While they don't seem like a very likely couple, the circumstances of Ben and Allison's meeting and subsequent hook-up are believable; chalk it up to a gentlemanly gesture on Ben's part and Allison's promotion-induced adrenaline. Besides, she may be a knockout, but she's also very down-to-earth and doesn't seem to think herself better than Ben, at least until he tells her about his "job", which involves pin-pointing all the nude scenes in various films for chronicling on a website he and his buddies are working on, and confesses that he's spent all of his adult life thus far living off the money he received when a mail truck ran over his foot. Despite her dubious impression of how he spends his time, once she learns of the pregnancy and decides to keep the baby, she's determined to at least give their relationship a shot, and he's willing, at least on some level, to step up to the challenge of being a father.

In romantic terms, I preferred Knocked Up to Virgin, as I liked both parties equally and was really rooting for them to end up together. While Ben's lethargic pals aren't as engaging as Andy's co-workers, they still form a decent support system; meanwhile, the friendship that develops between Ben and Pete is charming, and Allison shares some nice moments with her sister. In terms of vulgarity, I can't decide which of the films is cruder. Both are quite heavy on the profanity and the explicit references to sexuality, though what we actually see on screen is somewhat limited. I didn't find the movie any more offensive than I expected; reviews and my prior experience with Virgin left me well prepared. Still, despite the ultimately fairly warm and fuzzy undercurrent, this is not a film I would recommend to all audiences. My parents are intrigued enough by what they've heard to want to check it out; I suspect they will find it equal parts funny, touching and mortifying.

I won't heap "movie of the summer"-type accolades on this film, but I will say that fans of Apatow's first film should enjoy his second, which may do for Rogen what Virgin did for Steve Carell. I don't think either comes close to capturing the perfect blend of hilarity and drama found in Freaks and Geeks, which was situated firmly in PG-13, if not strictly PG, territory. I'd like to see him do a movie more in that vein, but until he does, his first two film outings are worthwhile efforts. Just get ready to click the ol' internal mute button a few dozen times...