Tres son multitud

Whenever a movie mistakenly thinks a bad pun of a tagline ("Dupree's a crowd" anyone?) is gonna rope in ye olde movie-going audience, there is officially room to be concerned with what you're about to watch. OK, so the tagline isn't as bad as some, but it is enough to raise a red flag. However, is it enough to indicate what's to come?

Welp, I'm happy to say that once again I'm gonna keep my distance from all your unfavorite (I'm makin' up words, baby!) stuffed-shirt critics out there who are giving You, Me and Dupree a merciless shredding because it doesn't meet the inherent level of pretension they so girlfriendlessly demand. That's right, folks. I, Johnny Betts, enjoyed You, Me and Dupree. I'm one of about three movie reviewers to boldly make that claim, but doggone on it, I'm sticking by it.

Granted, my enjoyment was heightened due to the fact that I kept my expectations low and didn't have to pay to see the movie, but I was entertained all the same.

It's only fair that I be perfectly honest and admit I'm somewhat easily amused when it comes to watching actors and actresses that I really like, and Dupree sports a great cast. Mileages will vary depending on your tolerance level of the actors involved.

Owen Wilson is one of my constant comedic favorites, once again displaying that crooked nose we all love and projecting child-like innocence with his signature charm. I also love his ability to sincerely deliver outrageous and cheesy lines in ways that make them seem not quite so outrageous or silly.

Then there's Kate Hudson, only the absolute cutest thing that Hollywood has going for it. She plays this role a little more low key than usual, but she's still irresistible, evidenced by her black bikini scene where she proves that she inherited what was always her mom's best *ahem* asset.

Rounding out the cast, straight-man Matt Dillon's cool as always, and Seth Rogen, though woefully underused, brings an impressive laughs-to-screen time ratio. Most of you will remember him from The 40 Year-Old Virgin, but he'll always be Ken Miller and Ron Garner to me. If neither of those names means anything to you then we need to have a serious talk about a couple of DVD sets you might want to consider acquiring.

Is this a film that'll find its way to the top of any of these actors' resumes? No. Is it a non-stop laugh-fest? No. Is it a film I can watch over and over and cry with laughter every time? Nah. Will you be disappointed if you're expecting something along the lines of The Wedding Crashers? Most likely.

After all, I never said the movie doesn't have its flaws. Some of the humor is a little too conventional and predictable, and the dramatic dialogue isn't exactly the most compelling to grace the screen, so no, this isn't gonna go down in the Book of Comedy Classics, nor do I feel a necessity to pencil it in as a future addition to my DVD collection (unless the special features are loaded with Kateness). But I found it to be a fun, light-hearted, silly way to take a 2-hour break from the real world. As I mentioned in the paragraphs above, its greatest strength is in its likable cast and their chemistry, and I appreciate the charm it displayed in never taking itself too seriously.

Plus, the majority of the screening crowd seemed to enjoy it. I've personally never had nor been a third wheel like Dupree, but those of you who can relate to such an experience might appreciate it on a different level.

I can't say that You, Me and Dupree is a film that just absolutely demands to be seen on the big screen, but it's certainly the kind of movie that you usually watch with friends and family where most everyone will walk away with a good chuckle, no one will be overly offended, Aunt Ella will comment on how "it was cute," no one's life will be dramatically altered, and Uncle Larry's uninvited segue into some boring recollections about his own "Dupree" experiences will wake everybody back up to their nightmare reality.

All in all, if you think no one can bring seven different kinds of smoke like Owen Wilson, and you find Kate Hudson to be seven different kinds of smokin' then there's something here for you to enjoy. Be it at a matinée or as a future rental. It might just help you discover your "ness."

THE GIST

You, Me and Dupree might not deliver two solid hours of nothing but out-loud laughter and the dramatic elements might falter at times, but there's no denying that the cast is great, and if you love those involved then you'll find some enjoyment here. I wouldn't pay more than matinée prices, and if you don't have a lot of spending money to throw around then just save it for a rental.

I thought this movie was painfully slow. I also thought considering the comedic talent involved that it would have been much better. I think I chuckled at a couple of scenes but not once did I gasp out in laughter as what I would normally do if a comedy were in fact 'funny'. The main problem with the film is the severe lacking in the script department which left the actors no room to improvise and made them rather bleak and uninteresting people. It wasn't a terrible movie but very average!

Michael Douglas also was an unusual candidate to play along side the 3 main leads - as when it came to Douglas's scenes that is when the film draged the most. You are never really told the reason as to why he dislikes Matt Dillion's character so much - which seems to be a large portion of the plot?!

Kate Hudson was great as usual and did well considering what she was given - she looked insanely hot in that black bikini though!!!

After Carl and Molly get married in Hawaii, they come back home to start their new life together. It just so happens that Carl's best man, Dupree, lost his job due to time he took off to go to the wedding, thus he finds himself with no home and no money. Carl being the best friend he is invites Dupree to stay at his house until Dupree gets his feet back on track. Things don't go according to plan as Dupree quickly becomes a burden and the stress of Carl's new job and his step-father as his boss is taking a toll on him.

Coming off his success of Wedding Crashers, Owen Wilson quickly pumps out another comedy in which he plays the same loser character with a heart of gold. Only this time he doesn't have the safety net that is Vince Vaughn to bounce off of. Thus driving You, Me, & Dupree to enter the same category of, ironically, Vaughn's other film, The Break-Up. To say this film is original is laughable; just about everything that happens has happened in other funnier comedies. It goes about the formula with a check list and doesn't really bother to add anything to the mix. The film even has the wacky, cool because he's an old school actor type character, Michael Douglas and of course the montage to show he's back on track segment with Dupree.

From directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who have had their hands in the hilariously funny television series Arrested Development, one would expect some form of hilarity to be present. This is not the case, as the film only gets some chuckles here and there, mostly from Wilson himself, in particular when he is being chased by a security guard. Even though Wilson does indeed play the same character here as he does in just about everything else, he does manage to be the best thing. I was expecting more from Dillon, with comedies such as "There's Something About Mary" and "One Night at McCool's" one would expect something more out of him, but he plays it straight here. Every now and again I would get annoyed with his character, as it seemed he had no idea what he was doing. Next to Hudson, he has the most serious role.

Speaking of Hudson, her screen time is severely lacking and what little time she does have, she does nothing with it. Hudson is adorable, but brings nothing to the film. Hudson is basically the only female in the entire film. The only other females that have any significant roles are hidden. Mandy, the woman of Dupree's affection is never shown. Even the wife of their friend, Neil, is never shown, only blurred in the background. I don't fully understand why the directors chose to do this as any significance is lost on me. Michael Douglas seems so out of place here and really sticks like a sore thumb. His lines were suppose to be comedic, but came off really flat. Douglas seemed to not get the part, he plays it seriously, but with the material it just comes off weird.

Unlike "The Break-Up" which was completely flat and horrendous, Dupree manages to get a few chuckles in here and there before it exits. Don't look for originality anywhere, because you won't find it here and the supporting cast does a horrible job at accompanying Wilson. Nothing really clicks here, it's all cramped together to see if something good came out at the end. Only one scene is really memorable at it doesn't happen until the end. Wilson can be really funny, if the supporting cast is able to keep up with him and stay on the same track, you only have to watch Wedding Crashers or The Royale Tenenbaums to notice this, with Dupree it's a sinking ship and Wilson can't seem to swim all too well.

Kate Hudson is really, really cute, three hundred watt cute. But that's about all that this film has going for it. It seems to me like a lot of films I've seen, where someone comes up with a really neat premise, one that gets the green light from the studio. But then someone has to write a compelling story to go on top of the premise. And this film, like so many others, peters out at that stage. There were a few laughs, but the movie got boring pretty quick, and stayed that way. Sometimes it aimed for zany, but missed by a fairly wide margin. Unless you are a huge fan of one of the actors, you probably should pass on this one. But Kate was really cute.

In the Russo Brothers' disappointing You, Me and Dupree, Owen Wilson's Dupree expounds an existential philosophy of keeping one's own character, a "ness" tacked on to a first name, such as his best friend's (Matt Dillon) "Carlness." It's a good idea dramatically to remind us all of our uniqueness and the necessity to nurture and protect it from, say, marauding fathers-in-law (in this case Michael Douglas), who might want to efface our individuality as well as get us vasectomies.

Yet the philosophical theme doesn't fit this comedy as it might Chekov's. Dupree's warm-hearted house guest slacking tests the patience of Carl and new wife (Kate Hudson). I can't figure out what Carl's character is, much less know what's worth preserving. Duprees's immature, likable, sometimes witty persona is much easier to determine. Kate Hudson's Molly is even easier, however, because all she has to do is put up with the boys' adolescent behavior and show up now and then in a bikini or white panties with her yellow hair in a breeze to let us know she inherited all of her mom's (Goldie Hawn) good traits including the promise of fine comedic timing should a script offer the chance. This script offers stinky scatology and humorless masturbation instead.

Wilson is establishing himself as an accomplished light comedian with a regrettable tendency to play the same type of charming bumbler who always has a pithy remark to make himself the poetic soul of the piece. His recurring sides of wit and boyish mischief are keeping him in enough cash to keep him from his even more talented role as co-writer with director and buddy Wes Anderson. So, I ask myself, why doesn't he do only projects that suit his creative gifts—maybe because he's lost his sense of "Owenness."