(The following review is intended to be spoiler free, but since the movie isn’t out for a week I thought it was only fair to warn you ahead of time.  Again, I do my best to avoid spoilers but you have been warned.)

This weekend Rob and I were invited to an early screening of the new movie Dinner for Schmucks starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.  It’s the first movie the two have done together since The 40 Year Old Virgin when they were both still earning their fame.  Obviously, since then, they’ve risen the ranks quickly.   Steve’s been headlining a little show called The Office and been in a few movies like Little Miss Sunshine, Get Smart, and Date Night.  Paul stared in movies like Role Models and I Love You, Man.  If you’ve seen at least one movie from each of these guys, then you probably have no doubt the two could carry a movie together.

Oh, and also, that new up-and-comer Zach Galifianakisarscosamoosekaneenisesaos is also in the movie.  You know, the goofy guy from Hangover?  Yeah.  He’s in this too.

To start with, this movie is a comedy about a normal guy (Rudd) trying to get a promotion by impressing his boss with the best ‘idiot’ (Carell) at a dinner where the guests make fun of the losers.  My concern going into this movie was that with an idiot dinner as the basis of the comedy the humor would be nonsensical and over-the-top.  To my great surprise it was the absolute opposite.  The writers did a great job of keeping the story in a zone of plausible – instead of a bunch of people being stupid simply for stupid’s sake, most everything that happened in the movie felt like something that actually could happen.  Carell’s idiot was far more a naive, good-hearted simpleton and less a crazy person.  That has a really endearing effect, allowing the audience to become sympathetic for the character while still appreciating the humor in the stupid things he does.

As good as Carell’s character is – and lets be fair, it’s a mix of the script and the actor – Rudd’s character never really blossoms.  This time I’m gonna blame the script, cause there is no doubt in my mind that Paul Rudd can play a normal, everyday guy.  His entire career is based on playing that guy.  He’s the Sandra Bullock of guys.  He still manages to be that normal guy in this movie.  The problem is that the writers forgot to give him a clear motivation.  The character is just kind of a mix of internal struggles, bouncing between conflicts without a lot of clarity to what drives him.  At the end of the movie there’s a nice little summary, but at that point you’ve lost any chance to understand him or why he’s so conflicted.  Still, even with that lacking Rudd does a great job playing counter to Carell’s antics and his acting actually makes you forget (for the most part) what a poorly fleshed out character he’s playing.

Now, I don’t want that criticism to carry too heavy.  Overall the movie is fantastic and that one flaw was really an after-thought I had while talking with Rob about the movie.  It certainly didn’t hurt the movie while I was watching itl.  Especially since I spent 90% of my time in the theater laughing.  The humor is mostly one liners that are well written and tend to build on themselves, and they’re crafted so well they never feel tired.  There are also some great ‘goofy’ moments, and the best part about those is that the director sells out for them.  What I mean is that when a goofy moment is about to happen you know before it starts and I found myself laughing in anticipation of what was going to happen and then laughing harder when it did.  No tricks, no sucker punches, no bait and switch, no spit takes.  What you think is going to happen does, and when it does you can’t stop laughing cause Carell and Rudd sell it perfectly.  Simple but so very effective.

The movie is rated PG-13 and I think that’s exactly right.  Mostly it’s pretty tame.  The language is never too foul.  There are some sexual conversations and jokes, but the content of those conversations is about on par with an episode of Family Guy or South Park.  In my opinion it was pretty mild and not really very offensive.

I’d highly recommend the movie to anyone who’s a fan of smart comedy.  Ironic to call a movie about idiots smart, but that’s really what it is.  In a packed theater, the entire crowd was laughing out loud almost from beginning to end.  For me, it was the best comedy since Hangover.

When you get to see it, let me know what you think with a comment or a tweet!  Enjoy the movie!