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Reviews
Dinner for Schmucks (2010)
A strained, misbegotten remake with a few chuckles at best
Painfully unfunny. As a fan of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd (not to mention Jermaine Clement and Zak G) and sometimes of director Jay Roach, it's hard to reckon how none of these talented people noticed how strained, mean-spirited and downright ridiculous this comedy is. No one behaves like an actual human being, and Carell's "loser" character is so annoying you're insulted when the script asks us to find him lovable-- you'd rather strangle him. A deeply cynical, formulaic farce without a shred of anything resembling reality. Even the broadest comedy has to be based in some recognizable behavior. It mocks the bad corporate villains for making fun of the fools invited to the party, and does the same thing itself. A few scattered laughs is the best you can hope for. What a waste of talented people. The producers should be spanked.
Bus Stop (1956)
Too Much Acting!
The only reason to see it today is for Monroe's undeniably touching performance, and to hear her voice in a different (hillbilly) key. Josh Logan's directs as if the audience were sitting in the third balcony: everyone emotes to the hilt. The worst offender is Don Murray, whose infantile cowboy Beau no longer seems like an engenuous rube, but an insufferable jerk. Time has not been kind to "Bus Stop," which looks like bottom of the barrel William Inge. But Marilyn's deliberately awkward rendition of "That Old Black Magic" IS magic.