Two's Company, Dupree's a Crowd
With a line up of stars which include Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon, you could be excused for thinking that "You, Me and Dupree" may be 2006's comedy success, to rival the likes of last years "The Wedding Crashers" or maybe similar to the hilarious "There' something about Mary", but sadly "You, Me and Dupree" falls very flat. Yes, it is funny in places and the storyline is quite good, but with Owen Wilson providing the majority of the comedy moments, it falls far short of being a really laugh out loud comedy.
Just back from their honeymoon, newlyweds Carl and Molly Peterson (Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson) are looking forwards to a life of wedded bliss, but when Carl's best friend, Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson - Meet the Fockers) shows up at their home, their blissful expectations take a nose dive. Having lost his job, car and apartment, Randy is homeless and helpless and calls upon the aid of his lifelong friend for some assistance. Without checking with Molly, Carl agrees to allow Randy to sleep on their couch until he is back on his feet, causing Molly considerable displeasure as Randy takes advantage of their hospitality and makes himself at home.
The storyline to "You, Me and Dupree" is in itself not too bad, it has three main elements. You have the happily married couple returning from honeymoon to a life of wedded bliss, the best friend who takes advantage of their hospitality, basically freeloading on their good nature and finally there is also a father-in-law who just so happens to be the husband's boss determined to make his life a misery in the hope that he will leave his little girl. All of these work really well together and are the basis of what could have been a fun movie, but at the same time they all feel very familiar and have all been used to greater affect elsewhere.
The initial concept of the newly wed couple works well as an opener, as not only does it set up the rest of "You, Me and Dupree" but it also introduces all the major characters and also reveals their relationships to each other. We soon get to understand that Carl and Randy had been buddies since childhood and up until his up and coming nuptials to Molly, Carl had lived a very free life like that of Randy. Plus, we also get to see the way Molly's father feels about his son-in-law and that deep down he doesn't respect him.
The next part of "You, Me and Dupree" deals with both Randy's freeloading on the newlyweds but also continues the theme of Molly's father distain for Carl. At times this feels overlong and monotonous as we not only watch Randy annoy both Carl and Molly with his freeloading and lazy nature but also repeatedly watch Molly's father pressurize Carl into a corner hoping to make him break. Although mainly monotonous, there are a couple of priceless moments which mainly revolve around Randy and the toilet. What is quite clever is the change of character which befalls Randy throughout this section. Initially he comes over as quite a lazy slob, who just wants to live his life as if it was one life long party with no real responsibility, but as the movie progresses he becomes for a better word "House trained" and seems to hit it off with Molly and her father more than Carl. This in turn causes Carl to be the suspicious and jealous husband whose paranoia starts to take over his ability to think clearly.
What is disappointing is the finale to the movie which is not only completely over the top but also completely predictable which really lets "You, Me and Dupree" down. Although saying that, I can't think of another way they could have ended it, without it being predictable.
The major problem I have with the story, is that the majority of the humour befalls on only one of the characters and so it feels very one sided. In a way it feels as if it is more of a vehicle for Owen Wilson rather a movie for all the stars.
The main character of the film is Randy Dupree by Owen Wilson, and is in effect the main source of the comedy highlights. Wilson does a reasonable job of providing laughs where ever he can but without a strong comedy partner, he really struggles to carry off half the jokes to there full affect. Providing a more dead pan humour is Matt Dillon as Carl Peterson, who again does a reasonable job of providing a few laughs but with what seems to be quite a flat character really struggles, at times it looks as though he is lost for words trying to remember his pretty bland lines. Opposite Dillon is Kate Hudson as his wife Molly and in my opinion is highly underused. Where as Hudson was brilliant in "How to lose a Guy in 10 Days" she is never really given enough screen time or character to make a real impact in this movie.
Probably one of the most enjoyable characters is that of Molly's father, Mr. Thompson played by Michael Douglas. Douglas manages to bring his character to life with a sort of psychotic, humorous nature as he puts pressure on his son-in-law by trying to get him to take his name instead of his own, and encourages him to have a vasectomy. Also making an appearance is Seth Rogen, but again his character is highly under used and could have made such a great impact if the writers had elaborated on his character.
What this all boils down to is that "You, Me and Dupree" is not as much fun as I expected and if you watch the trailer you will basically see the best bits leaving nothing else to really entertain when it comes to the actual movie. It could have been as good as "Wedding Crashers" but sadly it falls far short and frankly ends up forgettable.
