3 1/2* Review By James R. Holland      

Starts Out Slow But Picks Up Laughs As It Speeds Ahead

It’s not obvious why the term “Schmucks” was used in the movie title instead of “Idiots?” It’s probably because the producers wanted to attract a large Yiddish-speaking audience? This 114-minute, PG-13 comedy is clever and one doesn’t have to be a “Schmuck” or idiot to enjoy it. The film does make the audience wonder if the director Jay Roach and writers (David Guion, Michael Handelman and Francis Veber who wrote the original motion picture “Le Diner de Cons.”) are too smart by half? The tag line is: “It takes one to know one.”            

The cast is terrific with Steve Carell, playing Barry, the taxidermist IRS Agent whose passion is making fantasy dioramas using stuffed mice. Paul Rudd plays the “stock broker” Tim.  Stephanie Szostak is a lovely, lovely Julie. But she is upstaged by the performance of Lucy Punch (great name) as the crazy, kinky blonde would-be dominatrix Darla. Kristen Schaal adds her special brand of craziness to the office politics. Andrea Savage is one of the few powerful women attending the annual dinner for idiots. Octavia Spencer as Madame Nora-Pet Psychic provides some of the best laughs in the movie. Lucy Davenport and David Adams play Mr. and Mrs. Mueller, the management of whose money is the object of Tim’s firm. Zach Galifianakis as the mind-controlling IRS agent and Jemaine Clement as the crazy, sex-obsessed Satyr artist Kieran also added punch to the script.            

The entire supporting casts is excellent but aren’t mentioned individually because of the space limitations of this review.            

Some people may have trouble accepting the premise of this comedy--that a group of powerful businessmen would actually have an annual event designed simply to bring a group of very silly, weird, crazy or just colorfully stupid guests to a formal dinner so that they can award the winner with a trophy for being “Number 1”—the biggest idiot or schmuck. The idea that the up-and-coming employee who brought along that best guest would get promoted was also too silly to even be a fantasy comedy plot.            

The reader will have to see the movie to judge its merits. It does have some very funny moments—kind of like ethnic jokes sometimes seem very humorous even though they denigrate entire groups.            

Frankly, I thought the credits at both the beginning and ending of the film were among the most interesting parts of the motion picture. Somebody actually had to lovingly create all those dioramas featuring dead mice. There is a certain branch of taxidermy that focuses on that particular art.            

Also, at the movie’s conclusion, a giant bronze sculpture of “My Wife’s Favorite Finger” kind of lets the audience know just what the movie producers think of them. It's a supposedly clever use of another definition of the term “schmuck.” In this movie the so-called idiots and/or exhibitionists are not the schmucks, the schmucks are the elite, rich and powerful empty suits.

James R. Holland is a film editor, producer, and author--most recently of Adventure Photographer (A Bit of Boston Books/ 2009).  He reviews movies exclusively for Basil & Spice.  Visit James R. Holland's Writer's Page.

Copyright © 2006-2010, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.