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You, Me and Dupree
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference;
The new film comedy "You, Me and Dupree," written by Mike LeSieur and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, has a comparable premise -- an annoying house guest whose misfortunes and contrivances keep him underfoot for a protracted stay.
It has, though, the wit of a buzz saw and the sophistication of a booster seat. The house guest's behavior plays down to today's expectations.
Guest Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson) gets his laughs not from astringent dialogue, inventive performance or crafty character interaction but from exposing his bottom when he sleeps in the buff in someone's else's living room, from getting caught masturbating and from calling for matches when he barges into his hosts' off-the-bedroom bathroom late at night.
The hosts are newlyweds Molly (Kate Hudson) and Carl Peterson (Matt Dillon), whose best man Dupree was.
"It's only going to be for a couple days -- a week at the most," Carl tells Molly after taking in the jobless Dupree. The guest's notion of job-hunting is to play with neighborhood kids every day and to check out Carl's Asian porno videos at night.
Michael Douglas provides a pricklier kind of energy as Carl's widowed control-freak father-in-law and boss. His scenes are the only ones that work unconditionally.
For awhile "You, Me and Dupree" thrives on the diverse stresses in Carl's life, but the picture goes flat thrashing in search of content for the second hour.
Instead of a gallery of grown-up eccentrics played by great character actors, it settles for the usual posse of moronic buddies exemplified by Neil (Seth Rogen) and left over from a thousand other lame comedies.
In the midst of shrill and gross-out moments, Dupree screens "Roman Holiday," one of his favorite movies, and bemoans the loss of Audrey Hepburn. Great movie. Laudable sentiment. But it cues so false a shift in his behavior that the transition never washes.
From jokes about a Mormon slut, buttery sex and clogged toilets to laments for a boundlessly charming cinema deity? Nah-uh.
- In wide release.
