I'm a big fan of Steve Carell, I think he is hilarious in Anchorman and his portrayal of Michael Scott in The American Office is inspired and Dan in Real life, if you've not seen that, make it your next movie to view as it's amazing.
So, as you can see, I really rate Steve Carell, which means my enjoyment of this film was probably pretty guaranteed but here goes.
I saw the trailer for Dinner for Shmucks and wasn't really blown away by it. A guy wanting a promotion has to bring an idiot with him to a meal that happens every month, where other business men bring idiots, and they have a prize for the best idiot.
Sunday night however, I watched it with my long suffering lady wife Louise and her family and was laughing pretty much non-stop. Carell's idiot is actually really endearing and he's not the same character that he was in Anchorman, the idiot in this was believably idiotic. He wouldn't be idiotic for the sake of it, he'd get into a predicament through a series of ill founded choices.
He also has a hobby of dressing up dead mice and making them into little works of art, which are amazingly cute yet disturbing at the same time. The fact he's made something as ugly as death beautiful shows actual brilliance despite his idiotic capers.
Paul Rudd who was also in Anchorman plays the main guy who's up for promotion and the chemistry between him and Carell carries over to this, making the friendship seem, once again, believable.
Add a whole load of cameos: Jermaine and Mel from Flight of the Conchords, one half of Little Britain, the Irish guy from IT Crowd and Zach Galifilanis or whatever his name is, who was the bearded weirdo from The Hangover.
This is the best American comedy I've seen for a while, there's a joke about finding the clitoris that just seemed really out of place, but apart from that, it's comedy gold.
If you like Steve Carell, this is one of his best, if you're not keen on him, skip it and go watch Lassie or whatever it is you kids like.
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