Dinner for Schmucks(2010)- User Reviews

This remake of the original French film, Le Diner de cons, is such an unfortunate flop that it is hard to begin describing how bad it is.
The essential failure of the new version is that the Paul Rudd character goes through no believable changes. He is almost forced to partake in the dinner, so when he finally finds the "courage" to denounce it (after it's over...) he simply reverts back to how he was at the beginning of the film, which magically solves all his problems.
The main plot tries more or less to imitate the original, but this new version has all the plot devices and character motivations stripped away. What we are left with is exposition and poor comedic acting, the exception being the artist "Kieran" who was the highlight of the movie. I hope to see more of him in the future. Another decent performance was by the actor who plays "Thurman", although again, the original role was so much more interesting.
The set decorations were well done.
Steve Carrell probably did as well as one could with this dog of a script, and Paul Rudd was his usual, reliable Paul Rudd stock character. But that was the problem: he needed to be like the original character: a rather mean-spirited individual who is taught a lesson by his schmuck. It is that dynamic that makes the original so perfect; it is completely lacking in this version. What we are left with is as many cheap gags as possible.