‘Dinner for Schmucks’ Pushed Back One Week to July 30
Steve Carell and Paul Rudd
Dinner for Schmucks was quietly pushed back one week to July 30. Deadline indicates this may be due to the “buzz not working” or that July 30 is a “less competitive” weekend, noting that the 30th was originally slated for Little Fockers and Morning Glory that have both moved to the end of the year.
Though the move does provide some breathing room from July earlier high-profile releases (Twilight, Inception, Salt), as a comedy it moves closer to The Other Guys that is slated to open just one week later. This will likely impact week two results, unless The Other Guys skews more “Action-Comedy” than the “Comedy-Action” it seems to appear.
I’ve seen some comments online saying the trailer is not getting laughs and that people don’t understand what the story is about. I don’t understand this or agree with it. Firstly, the trailer had the audience laughing in my screening of Get Him to the Greek. As for the movie’s concept, it really isn’t that complicated.
Guys at the office hold a dinner where they make fun of idiots. Paul Rudd gets a promotion if he brings an idiot to dinner, and then meets Steve Carell who is an idiot. Carell attends the dinner and acts like an idiot with Zach Galifianakis. Hilarity ensues.
See? Not that difficult.
Dinner for Schmucks wouldn’t do too bad in the same spot, but following Inception is tough. Inception has a huge amount of buzz surrounding it and it’s from Christopher Nolan the director of the box office smash The Dark Knight. I’ve have been reading a lot about what people have thought about the trailers for Dinner for Schmucks and they are more negative than positive, but I’ve also read a lot about pre-screenings and I have heard mainly all positive except for I think Slash gave it a bad review.
Dinner for Schmucks’ concept is not difficult at all, it’s just such an original and somewhat experimental idea that I think the average movie goer is having difficulty trying to see the appeal. Personally even if the story was about the most unoriginal stupid idea, I would see it because it has Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Ron Livingston, Zach Galifianakis, and Jay Roach involved. I believe the negative press is due to the horrenduous marketing team. I’ll admit I was disappointed a little bit by the trailer, but when has Carell or Rudd ever let me down? NEVER!
But it really sucks now….I have to wait another week to see it.
Yeah, I’m sure the movie will do good given whatever week its comes to theatres. I’m looking forward to seeing this the most this summer, even more than The Other Guys. TOG looks live vintage SNL Ferrell which is exciting. I really hope Zach Galifianakis has a strong performance, I would hate to recognize him as a one hit wonder with The Hangover, he’s hilarious!
Im sure this will do great, I love both trailers, and this and The Other Guys coming out 2 weekdns in a row remidns me of when Step Brothers and pIneapple express came out right after each other.
I think reactions to the trailer have been mixed, some ranging from laughing to none at all. When I saw Robin Hood, it got laughs, but when I saw Get Him to the Greek, people seemed turned off by it. As far as test screenings, most of the positive comments I’ve read came from IMDb, which can be prone to studio plants. So I think this movie could go either way.
I agree that this excuse that the trailers aren’t selling the plot does not hold any water. In terms of setting up the plot, the first trailer does the best job at that.
By the way, this movie is not original. It’s a remake of a French comedy called The Dinner Game, released in 1998.
Another thing about the plot. I’ve mentioned this on other sites. The film is about rich corporate snobs who, in this economy, use their time and money to throw fancy and lavish dinner parties where they invite idiots to make fun of them. In this economy, I can understand why it would not appeal to certain people. We’re living in a time where people are losing their jobs all over the place and along comes a movie about rich people spending their money on making fun of idiots. I know it’s only a movie, but it’s an idea that can turn off a lot of people.
The rich corporate snobs are the villains, not the protagonists. I’m sure Rudd will prevail! So, this actually plays well with “the average moviegoer.”
I’ve seen The Dinner Game and this is more of a remake in concept than in execution. There are major sections of Schmucks that are revealed in the trailer that do not occur in the original.
Well, I don’t know how well that plays with the average moviegoer. The trailers show Rudd trying to become a corporate snob, even though we expect him to have a change of heart at the end. That’s one of the main issues I have with the first trailer in particular; it seems to give away the entire plot to me. The second trailer seems like more crazy nonsense and less Rudd and I can’t decide whether that’s good or bad, only with respect to the crazy nonsense as less Rudd is bad by itself. Like I said, when I’ve seen the trailers in theaters, reactions have been inconsistent.
Out of all the comedies this summer, this one is arguably the most difficult to determine how good it will end up. It’s a very risky concept that could lead to greatness but could just as easily lead to its demise.