You, Me and Dupree

Last night a friend coaxed me into seeing "You, Me and Dupree." Even though I have liked all four of its principal actors for years, I hadn't planned on seeing it last night or possibly ever. The reviews have been uniformly terrible, so I was expecting the worst. I sat in a movie theater that was perhaps one-third full, and I was waiting for the boredom to set in, which the critics said was coming—in spades.

Yes, Owen Wilson has bleached-blond locks, again, but that is probably the only accurate comment in any of the reviews that I saw, and I must have read at least ten of them, from various parts of the country. He was very good, as he was in the "Wedding Crashers." Kate Hudson was perky as always, and did a splendid job; and anyone who has loved her mother over the years will find Goldie's "clone" just as lovely as ever.

Matt Dillon did a terrific job, and was totally believable comically; and Michael Douglas was very good too, playing his character with aplomb. In short, it was a very funny movie, and quite refreshing given the alternatives; namely, movies that are loaded to the gills with special effects, which jar one's cranium to the uttermost.

It seems like the critics were in lock step in panning this film, which may be driving away audiences unfairly. Indeed, this may be a perfect example of the critics being wrong, dead wrong. Go see it in a theater, or buy a DVD when it comes out, and my guess is that you will not be disappointed one iota—and may actually love it. All four principal actors are perfectly balanced, and they are strong enough to be wonderful foils to one another.

I thought this movie was painfully slow. I also thought considering the comedic talent involved that it would have been much better. I think I chuckled at a couple of scenes but not once did I gasp out in laughter as what I would normally do if a comedy were in fact 'funny'. The main problem with the film is the severe lacking in the script department which left the actors no room to improvise and made them rather bleak and uninteresting people. It wasn't a terrible movie but very average!

Michael Douglas also was an unusual candidate to play along side the 3 main leads - as when it came to Douglas's scenes that is when the film draged the most. You are never really told the reason as to why he dislikes Matt Dillion's character so much - which seems to be a large portion of the plot?!

Kate Hudson was great as usual and did well considering what she was given - she looked insanely hot in that black bikini though!!!

After Carl and Molly get married in Hawaii, they come back home to start their new life together. It just so happens that Carl's best man, Dupree, lost his job due to time he took off to go to the wedding, thus he finds himself with no home and no money. Carl being the best friend he is invites Dupree to stay at his house until Dupree gets his feet back on track. Things don't go according to plan as Dupree quickly becomes a burden and the stress of Carl's new job and his step-father as his boss is taking a toll on him.

Coming off his success of Wedding Crashers, Owen Wilson quickly pumps out another comedy in which he plays the same loser character with a heart of gold. Only this time he doesn't have the safety net that is Vince Vaughn to bounce off of. Thus driving You, Me, & Dupree to enter the same category of, ironically, Vaughn's other film, The Break-Up. To say this film is original is laughable; just about everything that happens has happened in other funnier comedies. It goes about the formula with a check list and doesn't really bother to add anything to the mix. The film even has the wacky, cool because he's an old school actor type character, Michael Douglas and of course the montage to show he's back on track segment with Dupree.

From directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who have had their hands in the hilariously funny television series Arrested Development, one would expect some form of hilarity to be present. This is not the case, as the film only gets some chuckles here and there, mostly from Wilson himself, in particular when he is being chased by a security guard. Even though Wilson does indeed play the same character here as he does in just about everything else, he does manage to be the best thing. I was expecting more from Dillon, with comedies such as "There's Something About Mary" and "One Night at McCool's" one would expect something more out of him, but he plays it straight here. Every now and again I would get annoyed with his character, as it seemed he had no idea what he was doing. Next to Hudson, he has the most serious role.

Speaking of Hudson, her screen time is severely lacking and what little time she does have, she does nothing with it. Hudson is adorable, but brings nothing to the film. Hudson is basically the only female in the entire film. The only other females that have any significant roles are hidden. Mandy, the woman of Dupree's affection is never shown. Even the wife of their friend, Neil, is never shown, only blurred in the background. I don't fully understand why the directors chose to do this as any significance is lost on me. Michael Douglas seems so out of place here and really sticks like a sore thumb. His lines were suppose to be comedic, but came off really flat. Douglas seemed to not get the part, he plays it seriously, but with the material it just comes off weird.

Unlike "The Break-Up" which was completely flat and horrendous, Dupree manages to get a few chuckles in here and there before it exits. Don't look for originality anywhere, because you won't find it here and the supporting cast does a horrible job at accompanying Wilson. Nothing really clicks here, it's all cramped together to see if something good came out at the end. Only one scene is really memorable at it doesn't happen until the end. Wilson can be really funny, if the supporting cast is able to keep up with him and stay on the same track, you only have to watch Wedding Crashers or The Royale Tenenbaums to notice this, with Dupree it's a sinking ship and Wilson can't seem to swim all too well.

Marriages can be hypocritical, and the blame always falls on the opposite party. Thus, when a marriage is portrayed in a movie, the protagonist is sometimes hard to identify. This is the case in You, Me, and Dupree, which presents all of its characters at once but gives us no one to root for. Surely they have their positive qualities, but unfortunately they are blindsided by the negative ones.

If one specific character cannot be our favorite, then we must equally support all of them: "You," Kate Hudson's Molly, is betrothed to "Me," Matt Dillon's Carl, who works for his father- in-law, Micheal Douglas' Mr. Thompson (okay, he can be "and"), and is best friends with Owen Wilson's "Dupree." Four principles, no protagonist. We want everyone to be happy, but they're just so hard to like.

Their involvement with each other begins when Dupree moves in with the newly-wed couple of Carl and Molly, who seem reluctant but generous enough to give him shelter for a few nights. Being an unmotivated leech, however, Dupree moves right in and begins making his presence more permanent than Kate and Molly are comfortable with. This sets the scene for some funny moments involving Dupree's befriending of all the neighborhood children, who probably share his intellectual level, but most of the Dupree-jokes involve feces, nudity, or sex, alone or otherwise. Toilet humor or not, it serves to buttress the point that Dupree just is not a likable person.

Lucky, then, that he's not the main focus of the story. That honor goes to Carl, who is simultaneously dealt two difficult situations: Dupree fowling his nest and Mr. Thompson trying to overlord his marriage to Molly, even suggesting that Carl voluntarily sterilize himself. We get the feeling that Mr. Thompson would take pleasure in doing the deed himself.

As I stated before, there is no clear protagonist. Molly waffles between inviting in and kicking out Dupree, Carl has outbursts resulting in physical pain (mostly his), Mr. Thompson is the father-in-law from hell we met in Meet the Parents, and Dupree will do anything to live off of someone else. They roar and they rampage until the end, but the concluding situation is calmed far to quickly and unrealistically, like a riot quelled in an instant. Many unnecessary jokes could have been replaced with plot development, but they still elicit some legitimate laughs, and that's why we came.

'You Me and Dupree', the new comedy starring the Texas charmer Owen Wilson, represents two of the breeziest hours in film this year.

Quirky and funny 'You Me and Dupree' might be a film likely to catch you by surprise. It involves two newlyweds (Dillon and Hudson) and their oafish house guest Dupree (Wilson), who is turning their new world upside down.

I can't tell you what makes 'Dupree' tick so well, but something does. As far as plotting nothing seemed to be "filler" to me. Everything seems to drive the plot forward. Though it might just be "going through the paces" the film makes those paces as quick and lively as possible.

Performance wise, Wilson brings the right amount of charm needed for us to accept Dupree. Dillon and Hudson are solid in thankless roles. And Douglas creates a good supporting character of Hudson's father and Dillon's boss. I'd also like to point out the effortless comedic flow of 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' 's Seth Rogen also seen here.

In closing, 'Dupree' represents some very breezy summer fun in the air conditioned comfort of a theater.