Dinner For Schmucks was an absolute delight from starter to dessert. However, for those of you who do not know its origins, here is a short history lesson. The film was originally released in 1998 by French director, Francis Veber’s original “Diner de Cons” (“The Dinner Game”).

For the past thirty years, Veber has been one of France’s most prolific motion picture comedy directors, and time and time again, Hollywood has tried to recreate his magic, resulting in flat remakes that lack humor and charm. Questions like what and the answer is remember, “The Toy” (1982) with Jackie Gleason and Richard Pryor, or “The Man with a Red Shoe” (1985), starring Tom Hanks? Add to these flops, Mike Nichols’s “The Birdcage” (1996), and its more famous predecessor, “La Cage Aux Folles” (1978).

So here we are back on our shores with a Paramount movie that’s really worth watching this summer, plus Shrek. Come on, so far this season, Paramount has played it safe with Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever, How To Train Your Dragon and we all want to forget their latest release, Airbender. Let’s talk about a risk taker company, no! Two 3D animated movies, two sequels, and hopefully the last movie we’ll see of M. Knight driving that last nail into his coffin. I imagine Stephen King chuckling to himself when he saw the trailer for that one.

Today’s dinner didn’t upset my stomach and frankly it was delicious. I can’t believe a comedy with no breasts, scenes full of illicit drug use, or shock humor was finally released. Paramount (DreamWorks) needed to flex some summer muscle after exiting Airbender and their safe play pitches. So they did what they do best and played it safe again.

By using all the right ingredients, this movie will not knock Inception out of the top spot at the box office, but instead will leave us hours of pure fun. Teaming up with Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, two of the nicest actors in Hollywood today, was a great move. A kind of meeting of the 40-year-old Virgin. Since then, Carrell has become the most popular comedian in the world and Rudd has secured himself the role of a modern-day Carey Grant, playing the eternal good boy every time. Aside from Judd Apatow and his group, there aren’t many directors / producers who can be trusted to make a good comedy. Apatow has been known to laugh in any way it can, however, and that includes a lot of the hard-R shocks mentioned above.

On the other hand, Schmucks, directed by Jay Roach, gives the public a clean humor and sheer nonsense. Think Meet the Parents / Fockers, the three Austin Powers movies, and you’ll start to see the trend. On Roach’s horizon, watch out for Austin Powers 4, Used Guys (starring Jim Carey and Ben Stiller), as well as a remake of a Peter Sellers comedy called The Party.

Dinner For Schmucks is the story of Carell, who plays an idiot named Barry, who is a complete walking disaster. He is a taxidermist who creates historical shoebox scenes using the bodies of dead mice when he is not working at the IRS. He runs into Tim (Paul Rudd) while crossing the street and is run over by Tim.

All Tim wants out of life is to marry his girlfriend and get a promotion that takes him and his assistant to the executive floor to work alongside their boss played by Bruce Greenwood. Tim finds a way to bring in a new client and, in doing so, is invited to Greenwood’s secret dinner. Every invited executive employee must bring a jerk. The best idiot wins an award and leaves without knowing that they are the companies that best keep the secret also known as the funniest living joke.

Although this can be seen as a petty premise, it works well due to the fact that Rudd doesn’t necessarily agree with this dinner plan. Additionally, her role is that of a time bomb whose path to promotion quickly deviates every time she has an interaction with Carrell.

The success of any movie formula is built on the basis of a great supporting case. Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) is a dead ringer for Aldous Snow and could play his brother, if there was a sequel to Get Him To The Greek. He plays a successful artist who just wants to make Rudd’s girlfriend his own. Zach Galifianakis on the catwalk to follow in Carrell’s footsteps (with a quick climb to the top), plays his boss and nemesis. He also happens to think that he has the capacity for mind control and it turns out that he is married to Carrell’s fat ex-wife. Lucy Punch certainly takes the gold for her role as the infatuated stalker who can’t control an emotion. His scenes turn out to be some of the funniest and most outrageous in this movie. Aside from the dinner scene, the lunch gathering also brings some very fun surprises.

Of course, with a story like this, it can only lead to an exaggerated climax (the royal dinner) and a pleasant ending where only one thing can happen and the good boy (Rudd) gets the girl. This dinner is the equivalent of being hit by feathers for a few hours. No profanity, boobs just silly humor. The cast is smart, the script is well written, and Roach doesn’t take low shots, although there were plenty of opportunities to go for impact rather than laughter. In a summer of excess, this Supper is a welcome feast. However, it would be a wonderful invitation thrown at any time during the year.

Michael klein