Man Who Knew Too Much The 39 Steps Slim Case

Posted In: Case 39

Harvey Connaughton says...

Dumb and Dumber type of humor, without the bathroom scene. If you are a person who can see humor in everything, you will love.

Posted on July 30, 2011

Len Klepac says...

Firstly although this film is rated PG, it does contain mature themes and material. So you may want to watch it before letting it loose on your teenagers.



This film contains the highest form of the 'odd couple' that I can think of. Here is Tim (Paul Rudd), an up and coming financial executive that works for Fender Financial {a compay that specialises in the equity of distressed assets}; then there is Barry (Steve Carell) an IRS worker who stuffs dead mice and makes artistic pieces with them in his spare time. So here you have a very serious ruthless executive on one hand and a kind of oddball guy on the next side.



Tim accidentally bounces into Barry literally, but sees it as a great opportunity, since he needs to finds an idiot to invite to the company head executives' monthly dinner, where each executive must invite a buffoon and there is a little competition that they carry on. A lot is riding on this dinner for Tim, since his promotion still has to be confirmed.



The story unfolds on two fronts:



[1] Tim's relationship with Julie, who he wants to marry, however Barry mixes things up and an old phycho girlfriend that he had comes back into his life and she really smashes his stuff up.



[2] Tim's relationship with Barry and going to this 'Buffoon Dinner', or as they would call them - 'extraordiinary people'.



The laughter reaches its highest pitch at the dinner, there is truly a wide mix of oddities that have been invited. Each one individually will really make you crack up, they are just so weird and off the wall.



So, this is a great comedy that will make you laugh quite a bit throughout the entire film, so enjoy.

Posted on July 31, 2011

Dorotha Sanocki says...

Dinner for Schmucks is a lot like getting a Shiatsu massage from a member of the women's German Olympic weightlifting team. Nice at first and you end you feeling good about it by the end, but it can sure get uncomfortable along the way. The movie is funny. Very funny at times. At times I feel like pullingmy hair. It's a mixed bag. However when you get down to it I didn't regret watching it and look back remembering the fun stuff more than the stuff I complain about.



The movie is a situation comedy. One dude (Paul Rudd) wants to rise up the corporate ladder and one of way of doing it is to get a schmuck for this joke dinner party. Dude finds a schmuck (Steve Carell), who then latches onto him and all sorts of embarrassingly crazy stuff happens. It's similar comedy that you would find in Due Date (maybe it's a Zack Galifianakis as he is in both movies). Sometimes it's pretty funny and sometimes you just wish they would quit running the gag as long as they do. In the middle of the movie it's especially exasperating and borders on being painfully droll. There is only so many times (and minutes) I can stand seeing Carell destroy Rudd's life in various little ways.



It's when they get off on that kick and move further into the absurdities and quirkiness of the characters that the comedy starts to take off for me. Jemaine Clement as the eccentric artist Kieran gives a refreshingly out of the box performance, Galifianakis' character is weird but gels right in with Carell. Much of the good stuff happens in the beginning and the penultimate "dinner" scene at the end of the movie. It's makes it worth the wait when you get there. You get a blind swordsman making funny challenges, a pet psychic talking to the food, even Jeff Dunham married to one of his dummies. There is a fair amount of comedy gold in the rough.



The movie is not just all hijinks as the main characters do a little soul searching and maturing throughout the movie. This includes Steve Carell's character getting a little growth along with Rudd's character learning a life lesson suitable for an after school special. The movie is far from perfect, but it does have heart.



The Blu-Ray release will be in 16x9 widescreen format in 1080p with audio in 5.1 DTS-HD (dvd will be in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround). Extra features will be the following:



- The Biggest Schmucks in the World featurette



- "Schmuck Ups" gag reel



- Deleted scenes



- The Men Behind the Mousterpieces (Blu-Ray exclusive presented in High Definition)



- Meet the Winners (another Hi Def BD exclusive)



- Paul and Steve: The Decision: A spoof of the LeBron James Press Conference (BD exclusive in Hi Def)



Dinner for Schmucks isn't for everyone. You gotta enjoy quirky comedy. And you gotta enjoy the kind of comedy that puts you in awkward moments. For those of you who do enjoy that you have a little gem here. For those who enjoy some, but not all I still say at least do a rental. You may be glad you did.

Posted on July 31, 2011

Edmundo Laubscher says...

25 minutes into the movie, my IQ has dropped 25 points. I now have an IQ of -25, pull the plug now.



The movie has Steve Carell as one of the main characters (the guy from OFFICE, GET SMART, DATE NIGHT).

That should have warned you about the mentality of this movie.





Anyhow, it's amusing, but in a stupid OMG-WTH-IS-HE-SH*TTIN-ME-1+1=11? Kind of way. However, I've seen similar movies. I wouldn't watch this in the theater and if I did, I wouldn't bring anyone I really...actually...care and love. Maybe someone I hate or not really care for. Burns time, has so many over the top ridiculous moments.



The movie casts Steve Carell as Berry, Paul Rudd as Tim, and Stephanie Szostak as Julie. Julie is Tim's girlfriend. Tim has proposed to her twice, but has yet to receive a definite answer. I'll restrain myself from releasing the full plot, but the reason the movie is titled "Dinner for Schmucks" is because the movie involves inviting schmucks (SLANG- NOUN: incompetent, obnoxious, contemptible person)over for dinner. The goal of the invitation is to see who is the biggest schmuck of them all. A competition of schmucks. You can guess who's the schmuck between those three characters, it's an easy guess.



That said, I'll let you watch the movie to find out the rest. Should you watch it? Sure, you might end up enjoying the dumbed down humor more than I did. It's amusing sometimes and does give you some laugh-out-loud occasions, but it's also the kind of humor that makes you, the viewer, embarrass just to watch it.

Posted on August 2, 2011

Blair Burness says...

I'm extremely critical of comedy movies; I have a small spectrum on what is funny. I completely enjoyed this movie. Every character is well-developed, each with their own personal quirks. Steve Carell is absolutely hysterical with his classic awkwardness taken to a new extreme. Paul Rudd is a totally adorable man. If you haven't seen it yet, make an effort to do so.

Posted on August 3, 2011

Annett Brosnahan says...

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this movie.I had read some very negative reviews (and considering that the last couple of M. Night Shyamalan's movies did so poorly) I really wasn't sure if the movie was going to be any good or not. Much to my surprise, I didn't think it was just good, I thought it was great.Shyamalan (who wrote the story but did not direct) got back to basics with this script and it's much more in the vein of his early movies The 6th Sense, The Village and Signs.

First of all, to the people who are giving this movie a bad review because it wasn't scary - it's not meant to be scary, it is meant to be suspenseful; just as his early movies were not scary, but suspenseful.Also, it's rated PG-13, so exactly how people expected it to be a full blown horror movie...well, if people had thought about the rating before going to the movie, they would have realized it wasn't a horror movie.

M. Night Shyamalan also brings a moral/ethical point into the movie, as is par the course for his stories. Basically - "own up to your sins before they destroy you".The "twist" ending was easier to guess than some of his earlier movies...I knew `what' was going to happen, but I didn't know the `who' until the end.

All in all, I really liked this movie and I think that fans of his earlier works will like it as well.

Posted on August 4, 2011

Antonio Ruley says...

I was expecting more. Maybe i didn't really like it because i have watched the original French one "The Dinner Game" (1998) which i actually liked a lot. Still worth to watch.

Posted on August 4, 2011

Myong Keiser says...

This movie was actually a lot better than I was expecting. I laughed almost the whole time. Paul Rudd and Steve Carell were the perfect comedic team. Rudd stars as an executive named Tim Conrad. Tim wants a promotion, and is asked to bring an eccentric person with a special talent to a dinner. He soon learns that it's a dinner where rich people make fun of the people they bring. Tim accidentally runs into a man named Barry Speck with his car. He decides to invite him to the dinner. Tim tries to survive Barry's silly antics before the dinner even starts. This is a very fun movie to watch. I highly recommend DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS!!!

Posted on August 6, 2011

Neida Torma says...

(3 & 1/2 stars) I was interested in this movie because of M Night, despite his spotty record over the past few films, and the fact that he only produced Devil and didn't direct.This is the first of several "Night Chronicles."It turns out to be generally good, although not quite what I was expecting.As can be gleaned from the trailer, it's about 5 people trapped in a skyscraper elevator (the inside kind).One of them may be a killer, or even something evil.Although the trailer didn't reveal too much, I expected the story to involve the early revelation of a demonic figure, and a lot more gore than there was.Instead, it's much more about the suspense of not knowing who the killer is and what will happen next.This film is pretty subtle, at times almost too subtle.By that I mean the scariness factor might have been upped by just a few more flashes of the demonic as events unfolded.There were also a couple of disconnects or logical fallacies here and there, such as how the characters didn't figure out a source of light until much later than they should have (during the lights-out moments in the elevator), and the guy falling out of the skyscraper at the beginning was never really explained.Those things were minor though, as I was propelled along by the tense story, and the acting was also solid.Chris Messina as the detective and Matt Craven as the security chief were especially good.

Posted on August 8, 2011

Alba Appello says...

I had high hopes for this movie because Paul Rudd and Steve Carell are two of the biggest comedians in Hollywood today. This movie was excellent, but it didn't really meet my expectations. That being said, Steve Carell's performance made me bump up the rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. I love The Office but Steve Carell was definitely at his funniest in this role, period! I literally couldn't stop laughing in the theaters (which got a little embarrassing because the funny scene had ended) but it was well worth it. This movie is a must for anyone who wants a comedy that won't disappoint like many of the excuses for comedies Hollywood has put out in the past years. RECOMMEND

Posted on August 8, 2011