Really Surprised!

good back-story, and good acting

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The acting in this movie is really good.

You know what? This movie isn't a total write off. I have zero idea why this is ranked so low. It is a comedy and it does the job of making you laugh in some parts. Is it a great comedy? Heck no. But it is not awful. Maybe fans of the French version are upset about this not living up to its namesake. Whatever, I haven't watched the original.

This movie sucked. End of review. No stars given. Complete waste of time.

It never ceases to amaze me how truly humorous and emotionally inspiring movies like this get trashed by numbheads and these same numbheads fall all over those paper cutout movies which meet their "winner" criteria. Those movies may be winners, but this movie is a winner too. Other movies can be winners. Not just the winners.This movie deserves a 6.5 rating not the current 5.9. At IMDb, a 7.0 is really really good, an 8.0 is a super great magnificent blockbuster. Higher is almost unheard of. But they do exist. Higher rated movies are almost always a sure bet to be a winner. But any movie in the 6's is usually worth watching, while any movie in the 5's is probably pretty okay. Even some movies in the 4's can be okay, so the movies in the 5's are even more okay. But the movies in the 6's are really really good, which would mean the movies in the 7s would have to be changed to exceptionally good, not just really really good.On the other hand, IMDb ratings can often be totally the result of a bunch of numbheads. We should invite them to dinner.This is a good movie.

SPOILERS Dinner for Schmucks is one of the best comedies I've seen in recent years, possibly since Austin Powers. It's funny without getting as crude and disgusting as other recent funny comedies like Borat, Team America, Harold & Kumar, and Super Bad. The characters are likable with their funny flaws, and Steve Carell performs his role better than anything I've seen from Adam Sandler, Will Farrell or any of the other current lead comics. Carell plays a not so bright, nerdy amateur taxidermist who makes dioramas featuring stuffed mice. But you like him because he's very talented at his hobby. Paul Rudd befriends him with an ulterior motive, to invite him to the title dinner to impress his boss - but humiliating him in the process. But even before the dinner, Carell, trying to helpful, creates a series of misunderstandings that mess up Rudd's relationships. This makes up the bulk of the movie and is very funny, if typical comedic misunderstandings, well staged with good comic timing. SPOILER: But the dinner finally comes and that's the outstanding part, as we see the schmucks invited really are better people than the snobs who invited them, just ordinary people with some extraordinary talents -- but intensely funny. This is one to watch over again every couple years.