Dinner for Schmucks
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: July 30, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
15
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The film collects a cast of performers who know how to be funny. The success of this movie, following a formula upheld by just about any recent hit comedy you can name, lies as much with supporting players and plot-derailing set pieces as with the central story and characters. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter Debruge
An uproarious odd-couple remake of Francis Veber's hit French farce "The Dinner Game." Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
It's outstanding work (Carell). It's also a really funny movie. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
The situations are painstakingly set up and downright painful to sit through. So enjoy, or endure the appetizers, because with this Dinner, dessert is truly the topper. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The guests at the dinner are a strange lot. To describe them would be to give away their jokes, and one of the pleasures of the movie is having each one appear. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Dinner for Schmucks is lumbering, inconsistent and about 20 minutes too long, but it's funny. It's funny from the beginning, and it stays funny, even as it beats scenes to death and overstays its welcome. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Dinner for Schmucks goes up in flames. Amusingly, perhaps -- but creatively, too. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Gussied-up rodents and inane male antics come together in funny and inspired ways in this screwball farce. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Though Carell and Rudd are both saddled with characters that just aren't as interesting as many they've played in the past, the movie benefits from having drawn many gifted comedians to supporting roles. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
While the climactic dinner is a bit too much like a circus audition, Roach -- who helmed the "Austin Powers" movies as well as "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers" -- knows how to enjoy each sideshow. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Carell's performance as Barry, is nothing short of magnificent. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
On the way to this predictable conclusion, the movie offers plenty of smart entertainment. You'd be a schmuck to miss it. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
Steve Carell's character in Dinner for Schmucks is almost too pitiful for the jokes launched against him to be funny. It is a terrific performance making everyone else's condescension sound harsher than the writers likely intended. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubGenevieve Koski
Thanks to Rudd and Carell's dependable likeability and a tacked-on warm-and-fuzzy ending, Dinner For Schmucks is leagues ahead of its forebear in terms of mass appeal, but its laughs are more silly than scathing. Read full review
65
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
The problem isn't just that the gags feel airless and pointless; it's that the performers - many of whom have done wonderful work in other settings - seem more bent on pleasing each other than on entertaining us. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The film is sporadically amusing but gives the impression it should be generating more laughs than it does. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Far from a classic of precision farce, but it's funnier than the trailers make it seem. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
When Hollywood decides to remake French farce by Francis Veber, the result can be a champagne cocktail (La Cage Aux Folles spawning The Birdcage) or pâté de merde (Les Compères degenerating into Father's Day). Dinner for Schmucks, adapted from Veber's Le Dîner De Cons, falls somewhere in the middle. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
It's probably best not to think very hard about any of it -- just dummy up and laugh along. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Dinner for Schmucks has already raised hackles in the Yiddish-speaking community for the breathtakingly offensive epithet in its title (and it's not "dinner"). But it turns out that this comedy of humiliation, starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, isn't nearly as off-putting as it might have been. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria Vizcarrondo
In sum, the film is not without its sweetness. Carell's Barry retells the story of his life in dioramas populated completely with costumed, stuffed mice. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
No schmucks were harmed in the making of Dinner for Schmucks. That's the problem. Read full review
50
SlateTom Shone
This tawdry freak show is a telling substitution for the actual stupidity mocked in Veber's original. Roach's remake manages both mean-spiritedness and timidity the same time. That's some feat-moviemaking for boneheads. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
With Paul Rudd as the would-be mocker and Steve Carell as the mockee, and all manner of new supporting characters and plot lines thrown in, and much less energy, delight, wit, humor and fun than the original was able to muster without any evident strain. There's the occasional bubble, I confess, but almost no delight. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
There's plenty here to keep summer comedy fans satiated, if not entirely satisfied. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Its mean-spiritedness, stupidity and squandering of talent is uniquely Hollywood. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's suprisingly flat. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The hands-down funniest elements in Dinner for Schmucks turn out to be the mice dioramas, which become increasingly clever - even touching - as the film unfolds, then laugh-out-loud hilarious over the end credits. But you know you're in trouble when the best thing in your movie is a bunch of dead rodents. Read full review
50
Village VoiceDan Kois
Paramount Pictures and director Jay Roach would like to invite you to a dinner they're hosting, at which you are welcome to laugh at these poor jerks. That's a little messed up. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The characters who come off best in Dinner for Schmucks are those dead mice. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
There are inspired gags, to be sure, but they're few and far between. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
A perfect example of the modern comedy mill gone wrong, a prolonged muddle whose plot, specific situations, and improvised quips never line up. Read full review
40
EmpireWilliam Thomas
Hardly a classic given the talents of Carell, Rudd and Roach at his best. It bungles utilising plenty of talent in a lightweight comedy effort that brings little fresh to the table. Read full review
40
Time OutAaron Hillis
The Americanized version reconfigures the plot as both a hazing ritual for corporate-ladder-climbers and a lazy hook to hang cheap jokes on. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Against all reason and expectation, the result is a distinctly unfunny film. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
A remake for schlemiels, or at least easy marks when it comes to formulaic Hollywood comedy. But the film's peculiar sluggishness and nagging hypocrisy probably won't get in the way of its popularity. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJohn Anderson
Pathetically unfunny most of the time. Read full review
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