DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS (2010)

Directed By: Jay Roach
Written by: David Guion & Michael Handelman
Based on the original screenplay “Le Diner De Cons” by: Francis Veber 
Cinematography: Jim Debault 
Editor: Alan Baumgarten & Jon Poll

Cast: Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Zach Galifinakis, Jemaine Clement, Bruce Greenwood, Larry Wilmore, Andrea Savage, Lucy Punch, David Williams, Stephane Szostak, Ron Livingston, Kristen Schawlow, Nick Kroll, Randall Park, Chris O’Dowd, Jeff Dunham, Octavia Spencer, Rick Overton 

When he finds out that his work superiors host a dinner celebrating the idiocy of their guests, a rising executive questions it when he’s invited, just as he befriends a man who would be the perfect guest.


While I quite enjoyed the french original it was smaller scale and crueler. Limited in its locations and hijinks. 

As Well the lead was less likable and by the end, all that happens seemed more like a well-deserved comeuppance. Though after a while you Could feel his pain

This American remake is opened up more to allow more characters and situations. That makes the film feel more Bloated than it needs to be.

The film has a talented comedic cast, who all seem to go over the top and try way too hard to make the material work when not needed and steal the movie. It doesn’t feel so much as fun and entertaining. With each trying to top one another in a game of one up man ship that it feels grand in its upper-crust air. Though proves that some bits and pieces are good enough. Which is a shame because the cast is pretty solid. 

Steve Carrell feels too familiar with this role in THE OFFICE of being innocently annoying and stupid more silly here and bigger. While He is one of the stars he keeps getting scenes stolen from him by co-Stars.

Steve Carell does what he is supposed to do and can be a chameleon usually in roles you would never believe he would be cast in, but here he never quite makes a mark to pass into an original or a classic. 

The film certainly lacks any subtlety. The film still wants the main stars to be likable. So the film opens up the story for more hijinks. As well as padding out the cast and a third act showdown. Whereas the original could have been a theatrical stage piece.

One can give credit for opening up the Story but each new location most feels like a set up where you know things are going to go wrong. 

The film isn’t As snobbish or highbrow as this seems more broadly humored. 

Yet again though this is a remake made for now original the foreign language one was and other than it’s the Main point most is changed around for a more mainstream appeal that subtracts what made it so special in the first place. It’s never a good place to be, because if you follow too closely then it’s like the film

LET ME IN practically the same shots with different actors and in English with minor changes. Where you might as well watch the original as everything is pretty much the same. You just won’t recognize the cast and will have to read subtitles.

So if you have seen the original while this is bigger it comes off strangely and as even if you haven’t seen the original. This still will be way too familiar and you’ve seen it before and done better.

GRADE: C

FATHER’S DAY (1997)

fathersday

Directed By: Ivan Reitman
Written By: Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel
Based on the film “Les Comperes” written by: Francis Verber
Cinematography By: Stephen h. Burum
Editor: Sheldon Kahn & Wendy Greene Bricmont

 

CAST: Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Nastassja Kinski, Julia Louise-Dreyfus, Bruce Greenwood, Haylie Johnson, Mark McGrath, Charles Rocket, Jared Harris, Louis Lombardi, Patti D’Arbanville, Ricky Harris, Dana Gould

Jack Lawrence is a smart aleck lawyer who is one day visited by an ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid was his. Enter Dale Putley, a depressed goofball who is also a writer, meets with the same ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid is his. One day Jack and Dale meet and discover what had happened: they’ve been told the same story and now there’s a question of who the real father is. They learn their son is following a rock band called Sugar Ray around. So Jack and Dale hit the road to Sacramento and find their drunk, love-struck son. Soon after they bring him back to their hotel room, their son escapes and Jack and Dale must use teamwork to find him again, bring him home, and find out which one of them is the real father.

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THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES (2012)

place



Directed By: Derek Cianfrance
Written By: Derek Cianfrance , Ben Coccio & Darius Marder
Story By: Derek Cianfrance & Ben Coccio
Cinematography By: Sean Bobbitt
Editor: Jim Helton & Ron Patane
Music By: Mike Patton 

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper, Ben Mendelsohn, Ray Liotta, Harris Yulin, Rose Byrne, Mahershala Ali, Dale DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Bruce Greenwood, Robert Clohessy, Gabe Fazio


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