You, Me & Dupree Review

"You, Me And Dupree" reviews

Movie

You, Me And Dupree

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-08-24 00:00:00

Provider

MyMovies

Review

We've all had had 'em - houseguests whose 'few days on the sofa' have turned into weeks of eating your food, using your electricity and generally abusing your hospitality. Meet to meet Dupree - the houseguest from hell.

It all starts so well for newly-weds Carl (Matt Dillon) and Molly (Kate Hudson). Just back from their Hawaiian wedding, the happy couple are just settling into married bliss when Dupree (Owen Wilson), Carl's rather free-spirited best man, comes to stay after being booted out of the bar he was sleeping in. Not exactly one for knocking, respecting boundaries or getting a job for that matter, it's not long before Dupree starts to outstay his welcome - and an incident involving a meek librarian, a butter dish and far too many candles certainly doesn't help.

Right from the off, Owen Wilson's laconic charm makes Dupree a likeable but deeply frustrating character. He works well with Dillon as the old pals relive the good ol' days but he does come across too child0like at times. However with Hudson Owen really hits his stride. The pair share a natural chemistry and that's just as well as one key plot point sees Carl suspect his pal of getting too comfy with his missus while his nightmare father-in-law (Michael Douglas) sees this as a good way to turn the screws on his new son. Writer Michael Le Sieur also explores the vein of just how under the thumb many married 'thirtysomething' men seem to be.

Undeniably warm and reassuringly comfortable, "You, Me And Dupree" certainly doesn't out stay it's welcome.

Movie

You, Me & Dupree

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2006-08-23 15:00:36

Provider

Review

We've all been there. Had a house guest outstay their welcome, but Owen Wilson's Dupree would test even Elton John's extravagant hospitality.

Dupree is Best Man at Carl (Matt Dillon) and Molly Peterson's (Kate Hudson) wedding. However, he neglected to get the time off work so soon turns up at the happy couple's doorstep unemployed and destitute on. They reluctantly allow their archetypal slacker friend to stay under the proviso he gets back on his feet ASAP. Unfortunately Dupree's idea of working is playing baseball with the local kids in Carl's street and inadvertently setting fire to the house while romping with Molly's Mormon work colleague. Meanwhile Carl is is getting it in the neck from Molly's overprotective father-in-law and boss Michael Douglas, who wants him to hyphenate his name and have a vasectomy. As Carl's patience is tested to the limit he risks losing everything - his job, his friend and his new wife.

With it's mediocre script and farcical plot this is by no means a groundbreaking comedy , but 'Dupree is well worth a few laughs thanks to a stellar cast. It's undoubtedly Owen Wilson's show, an actor who like Bill Murray before him, can seemingly only play one character, but hell that amiable, childlike character (as seen in The Life Aquatic and Meet The Parents) is awfully funny.

Movie

You, Me & Dupree

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-07-23 23:02:37

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

You, Me and Dupree manages to keep us mildly amused, mostly due to Owen Wilson's infectious charm. But unlike some of his other comrades in comedy, a lot of Owen doesn't necessarily spell success.

Story

Ah, the unwanted guest. It's been the subject of many a movie. You know the kind: Messy, doesn't respect your privacy, stops up the toilet, has sex with someone in your living room using butter and nearly burns the house down. That's Dupree (Wilson) to a tee, and for newlyweds Carl (Matt Dillon) and Molly (Kate Hudson), having Dupree in their house is downright disastrous. At first, Carl is psyched to have his best man as his couch guest while Molly is less than enthused with Dupree's well-meaning antics. But when Molly starts feeling abandoned by Carl's workaholic tendencies—as he, in turn, tries to impress his demanding new father-in-law (Michael Douglas)—suddenly Dupree's good-natured personality and carefree wisdom is comforting to Molly, much to Carl's chagrin. But don't fret. This three's-a-crowd scenario will work out some kind of resolution, as the loveable guest shows how a little inner Dupree-"ness" might just be one of life's hidden secrets.

Acting

With Dupree, Wilson is attempting to break away from the buddy comedies he's known for, such as Starsky and Hutch and Wedding Crashers, in which he mostly plays the pithy straight man. There are definitely moments of true Wilson brilliance in Dupree, especially when he's avoiding a building security guard by throwing "seven different kinds of smoke" at him. But playing off someone slightly wackier than himself is really Wilson's forte and in trying to carry a whole comedy on his own, he's not nearly as successful as say, Jim Carrey or even Jack Black. It also doesn't help that Hudson and Dillon aren't able to pick up the slack. Hudson is appealing as the beleaguered Molly, and Dillon seems to be getting better looking with age—but together, they are one big ball of bland, especially Dillon, who is sorely miscast as the straight guy. On the other hand, Douglas does a nice turn as the overprotective daddy who can't let his little girl go.

Direction

Basically, Dupree is Wilson's big vanity project. As the film's main producer, the funnyman shopped the script by first-timer Mike LeSieur around and got a deal right away—no doubt based on Wilson's previous moneymaking comedies. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, brothers best known for helming Welcome to Collinwood as well as several episodes of TV's Arrested Development, do the best they can with the Dupree material. But it's a shame Wilson doesn't have the same discerning tastes as his frequent collaborator, director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums). You, Me and Dupree is just, well, ordinary, and no amount of Wilson mad-cap energy and wily antics can raise it up into the comedic stratosphere.