The French writer/director Francis Veber is one of my favorite filmmakers...with exceptional films like "The Valet", "The Closet" and "The Dinner Game" (among others) to his credit. It's not surprising that Hollywood would want to remake one of his wonderful movies and cash in on his success. Too bad that they didn't trust Veber's wonderful script and changed it so much...dumbing it down in order, they assumed, to get a wider audience to enjoy the story.The basic movies are the same...but they are so very different as well. They both featuring a selfish man inviting who he perceives as a total idiot to a dinner party where all the sophisticated folks dig up the most annoying and stupid folks they can so they can laugh at them. The objects of their laughter THINK they're going to a nice party but there's really nothing nice about the folks running this godawful game. But so much is different beyond that....not just in the storyline but also in the way folks are portrayed. Veber's direction was generally very subtle...and nothing about this American version is subtle and it often chooses the low road instead....ruining, in my opinion, the story. Now I should point out that although the film occasionally irritated me and overall was a bust, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law loved the movie and laughed at many of the parts I hated most. I am NOT saying they are wrong or stupid....but they didn't see the French film and I wonder how much they would have enjoyed "Dinner for Schmucks" had they seen it as well. Overall, a huge misfire...and I hope people realize that the original is wonderful and clever.

Oh man, this was a dreadfully bad movie! I just stumbled upon it and even though it wasn't reviewed well, I liked the premise. I wasn't expecting much, but I thought I was going to get at least a little something from it. This movie takes a funny premise and essentially takes the least funny angle on every element within the movie with an over the top cartoonishly silly approach. It's a premise that needs to be treated with an element of realism that ties into the reality we are familiar with… as a result jokes would land harder and overall it would be a more enjoyable experience. This movie gives us nothing that is relatable to our world. You couldn't try to make this movie any less funny. This movie should be rated much lower than a 5.9 on IMDb. The vast majority of the humor in this movie is sooooo cringe worthy unfunny. Sure, there are a few moments that made me laugh, but if you throw enough crap at the wall some of it's bound to stick, but it's amazing how little does. The whole storyline associated with that art dude was sooooo insanely unfunny on every level. Steve Carrell's/Barry's big theme to his character is, he creates art with dead mice…. He uses the mice to depict famous/historical people (Benjamin franklin, Jesus, etc). Seriously! That's the funniest thing they could come up with? I mean 1/5th of the movie is dedicated to this mouse joke…. I guess it's a joke? What were they thinking? The whole girlfriend/relationship storyline was painfully cliché and beyond cringeworthy and of course is consistent with being over the top silly. And the whole ex-girlfriend or whatever she was…. Seriously? Oye Vey! The Swedish couple…. redic! Then the move finally gets to the dinner and makes the audience suspend disbelief. We're supposed to believe that all the business big wigs were really enamored with Barry's weirdness as though he was a huge riot, but none of it occurred while we were watching it. He really wasn't that weird in comparison to the others and his big display with the mice wasn't really that bizarre or funny? Who knows, I'm done? This is such a repugnant piece a crap of a movie and the director and writers should be ostracized and never allowed to be a part of any creative process ever again.

This movie may not be the "best" movie out there, but it is fun and enjoyable if you have an easy-going sense of humor, instead of looking for Oscar in everything. Some great laughs and an all around fun time when viewing this movie. I believe that Steve Carrel was honestly perfect for this character and Paul Rudd portrayed the stressed office worker as you would imagine he does. Please give this movie a go and if you don't like it please don't rate it badly because others may. I almost didn't try this movie because of the rating on here buy I am very very glad that I did because it was very enjoyable.I can't stress enough hoe much this movie is great. I have to write extra lines so that this website will accept this review, and I want all of you to get to see it. If you are in this just for a chilled out laugh, rather than one that it is over criticised and analysed, then this movie is highly appropriate

SPOILERS Dinner for Schmucks is one of the best comedies I've seen in recent years, possibly since Austin Powers. It's funny without getting as crude and disgusting as other recent funny comedies like Borat, Team America, Harold & Kumar, and Super Bad. The characters are likable with their funny flaws, and Steve Carell performs his role better than anything I've seen from Adam Sandler, Will Farrell or any of the other current lead comics. Carell plays a not so bright, nerdy amateur taxidermist who makes dioramas featuring stuffed mice. But you like him because he's very talented at his hobby. Paul Rudd befriends him with an ulterior motive, to invite him to the title dinner to impress his boss - but humiliating him in the process. But even before the dinner, Carell, trying to helpful, creates a series of misunderstandings that mess up Rudd's relationships. This makes up the bulk of the movie and is very funny, if typical comedic misunderstandings, well staged with good comic timing. SPOILER: But the dinner finally comes and that's the outstanding part, as we see the schmucks invited really are better people than the snobs who invited them, just ordinary people with some extraordinary talents -- but intensely funny. This is one to watch over again every couple years.