I have now seen a record 3 movies this past week: Despicable Me, (a really good movie) Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, (an excellent movie) and now I have seen Steve Carrell's other non-kids film Dinner For Schmucks. Right off the bat I'm going to say that this is a remake of a French movie. The only thing these movies share is the premise. After that, both films branch out into their own things. I have seen that original French movie and I can tell you that it is actually quite good. (it's way better than this movie, but what do you expect? It's a remake.)

Both films have the same premise. A guy wants to get a big promotion at work. He sells his boss on an idea and gets invited to one of the bosses special dinners in which they have to bring a "special person" (translation: an idiot) along so that the other guests can make fun of him or her. The guests then decide on who's idiot is the best and the winning idiot gets a trophey. In Dinner For Schmucks, the rest of the plot is your basic screwball comedy fare. This ment I ended up figuring out what was going to happen before the film showed it.

The first 15-20 minutes of this movie are not very good. it just wasn't as funny as I would have liked. I did have a few chuckles during this but that was it. Then Steve Carrell's character appears and it's like the film did a complete 180. What follows is 90 minutes of sheer hilarity that only a few talented comedic actors can provide. Steve Carrell is one of those actors. The supporting cast was also delightfully funny when they needed to be. Jemaine Clement (the flight of the conchords guy who wears glasses) plays this weird artist who likes to photograph himself doing truly weird and sometimes horrifying things with animals and women, Zach Galifinakis is histarical as an I.R.S. worker who belives he has the power of mind control, and Jeff Dunham is in this movie and he has some good scenes. I really liked how this movie is very much its own thing and is not trying to be a shot-for-shot mimick of the French original besides the fact that they share the same premise.

Overall, Dinner For Schmucks starts off iffey but once Steve Carrell enters the picture it does a complete 180 and turns into one of the funniest, heartwarming, and good films I have seen all summer.

I give Dinner For Schmucks a 9/10.