Dinner For Schmucks

What do you get when you mix Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell with a little timely sprinkle of Zach Galifianakis? You end up with a man attempting to move up the totem pole of his dog-eat-dog job; in order to solidify his position he must compete with other higher up coworkers in finding and bringing the best schmuck to dinner so they can all laugh at them. His man of choice is a socially and ultimately just flat out awkward taxidermist (Carrell) enthusiast who is particularly fond of mice, dead ones. He then decorates them and sets them up in different dioramas (which are all rather clever, but you obviously can tell why he’s chosen for the schmuck dinner) all this as a hobby. Rudd’s long time girlfriend strongly disagrees with this idea and as he attempts to decide what to do with the dinner and his schmuck of choice his schmuck of choice and him end up in a heap of trouble; mainly caused by Carrell’s amazingly uncanny ability to screw things up character. A relationship almost ends, audits are handed out, crazy ex mistakes reappear, mind control (and brain control) is witnessed and lots of dead mice are dressed and stuffed.



Dinner for Schmucks scored big time for me, I found myself laughing at almost every joke that was thrown to the audience. Carrell’s awkwardness is priceless and different; although you can somewhat see Michael Scott in this character, which is why I think he plays this part so well. Paul Rudd plays much of a similar role as that in “I Love You, Man”, a man on a quest who also contains some very awkward moments that leave you laughing but embarrassed at the same time (slightly like the man kiss scene in I Love You, Man). This all works flawlessly as I saw no problem with any of the acting or writing and Zach Galifianakis’ cameo is quite funny clashing pleasantly well with Carrell’s character. A few “Flight of the Conchords” characters also make appearances as well, which all blend well together in this hilarious summer comedy. What’s also nice is that among the hilarity there is some seriousness mixed in where you feel an emotion other than happiness or giddiness adding attachment to the movie not just making it all about the humor. This movie is definitely worth going to in theaters especially if you’re looking for something to cheer you up or are just in the mood to laugh.





Over All Rating: 8 out of 10

Inception

Forget everything you know about dreams if you plan on seeing this summer blockbuster, clear your minds and prepare to see digital effects take yet another step forward in cinema. Although “Inception” is not just completely held up by CG (unlike some movies…) solid acting performances—especially by DiCaprio, again—are held together by feasible chemistry and interaction between an array of actors (some well known, others not as much), they make you feel like a more perfect group could not have been assembled. Christopher Nolan continues his amazing writing in yet another movie keeping you on the edge of your seat guessing what is going to happen next. All this is done at a pace that keeps you trying to remember and keep up, although this is fun and entertaining it doesn’t let some of the story develop much, but it works because the pace rarely slows.



The movie follows Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) a heist man who steals information—with the help of Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) a close friend who doesn’t have much else described about him—from people through entering their dreams and stealing the desired information from the vaults within their subconscious (that are stored in the persons dream). But in order to get back to his family he has one last job. Instead of stealing information he and his team of people (an architect—who creates the dream’s landscape—Ariadne (Ellen Paige), a chemist—who helps develop sedatives to allow deeper sleep for dream contortion—Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a forger—who imitates others—Eames (Tom Hardy) and a funder—who is the man behind the whole thing promising Cobb’s his family life back—Saito (Ken Watanabe)) must plant an idea and let that inception grow, becoming that persons own.



Overall this movie works pretty well, although trying to entirely explain and critique this movie is slightly difficult after one viewing (I will probably end up seeing it again). “Inception” is a movie that although there is vast amounts of entertainment in it could have gone deeper with character development (besides Cobb) and their relationships, although the story works, it could have been enhanced and dwelled upon more. This being said, the movie is enthralling and I enjoyed it very much, it works the way it is now, actions scenes are intense and well choreographed and cinematography is amazing. Altogether this movie is still worth the price to see in theaters, but be prepared to be confused and possibly a second trip back if you want to get your mind wrapped around the whole thing, this movie is not for the weak minded and easily distracted.



Overall rating: 8.5 out of 10