Consumer Warning: Avoid ‘Dinner for Schmucks,’ Find ‘The Dinner Game’

By Mad Dog
Published: Jul 08, 2010

Steve Carell makes few mistakes, but ‘Dinner for Schmucks’ looks like a whopper. Even the trailer looks unfunny. Too bad, because the premise is amusing — sophisticated men host a dinner to which each brings an idiot, and at the end of the evening, the sophisticated guys choose a winner. Or it was amusing in the original, a French comedy that had no need of Americanization. The French title (‘Diner de Cons’) was translated for export as ‘The Dinner Game’, and if you can find a DVD to rent (or, if you’re in the mood to roll dice, buy it from Amazon here), do it, because this movie is screamingly funny.