We welcome aboard new film critic Susan Kandell with a review of Ron Howard’s The Dilemma. Look for more great reviews from Susan on Bigfanboy.com soon!
Sometime last fall the trailer for the new Ron Howard comedy (their classification, not mine), The Dilemma hit the theatres and with it came a wave of controversy. Trailers are both a bane and blessing to audiences. Remember the trailer for the Frank Marshall film Congo? My heart raced! Remember the film? ……I thought so. Trailers can be very persuasive marketing tools, but they often divulge too much plot or in the case of comedy, an excessive amount of punch lines.
The trailer for The Dilemma went a step further and before you can say “politically incorrect,” Universal had a full-blown dilemma on its hands. During a presentation to a Detroit car manufacturer, Vince Vaughn’s character voices his opinion that “Electric cars are gay.” He does qualify the remark, “I mean, not homosexual, but my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance gay.” Somehow the powers that be determined that this was indeed one of the funniest lines in the film. Sadly, it was.
The Dilemma centers around Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn channeling his best impression of Vince Vaughn in __________ (fill-in your own favorite VV flick) and his discovery of a dirty little secret; his best friend’s wife is having an affair. What’s a guy (with his own nasty secret) to do? Discuss it with his girlfriend? Nah, too simplistic! Instead, screenwriter Allen Loeb (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) rips a page right outta Molière’s playbook. You’ve seen the scenario before – a couple of guys and a couple of gals coupled with a misunderstanding, some comic relief (in this case Queen Latifah) and voilà – the truth emerges. The question begs, do you really want to spend
two hours watching a comedy that’s at its core, not very funny?
Other then Queen Latifah and Vince Vaughn, the rest of the cast has very little in the way of humorous lines. Kevin James plays Nick Brannen, the high-strung best friend of Ronny. The plot is centered on Nick’s wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) who is having an affair with the very tattooed Zip (Channing Tatum). Jennifer Connelly is cast in a thankless role as Ronny’s long-suffering girlfriend.
We know that Oscar-winning director Ron Howard can deliver the goods, especially where drama is concerned (think Frost/Nixon and A Beautiful Mind). I just wish he had cultivated the more serious concepts that were introduced in the film; loyalty, trust and the struggles generated by Ronny’s predicament.
According to the press notes, the origins of The Dilemma date back to a dinner party in Rome during the filming of Angels & Demons. Prolific producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard were chatting (you know, the usual Hollywood banter) and Grazer posed a question, “What would you do if there was somebody you cared a lot about, say, your best friend, and you spotted his spouse cheating? What would I do, and what would be my process in figuring out when and how to tell him?” Howard liked the idea and before you can say “chick flick,” Grazer met with Vince Vaughn (who also produced this film) and The Dilemma was born.
To be fair, the film wasn’t a total disappointment; it was good to hear The Band’s “Baby Don’t You Do It” and a treat to see Chicago in the winter without snow. There was even a bit of levity during the preview/press screening. Universal Pictures presented trailers for two upcoming comedies; Paul starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) who play two sci-fi geeks who embark on a pilgrimage to Area 51, and Danny McBride and James Franco who team up for a comedy adventure entitled Your Highness. Now only if those films live up to their trailer hype. We can only hope!
