You, Me and Dupree delivered laughs and overall satisfaction. Owen "I always play the same character" Wilson captured my interest from the start and again, had me rooting for him, even though he's the kind of guy none of us would probably like in real life.
Matt Dillon--convincingly playing a just-wed young professional (how old is he now?)--supplied just enough moxie to be a guy's-guy while playing the foil for most of Wilson's jokes, and Kate Hudson had all the right moves for her part. In a sense, we were to see Wilson through Hudson's eyes--skeptical at first, and enraptured at last.
The movie isn't high art, and is basically a sequence of bits all playing to a grander and grander spectacle of absurdity, but for what it is--it's good. Hard-luck and undermotivated, Wilson moves in with the newlyweds and creates havoc. At first he is coddled by Dillon (they are buddies, afterall), then he wins Hudson's affections just as Dillon's patience has worn out.
There is a slightly humorous sub-plot involving Dillon's boss/Hudson's father--played by Michael Douglas--who is subversively trying to emasculate Dillon because his fatherly love for Hudson is apparently too big to absorb a son-in-law. This element of the movie is good, not great, mostly because it's missing the amusing Owen Wilson--although Douglas is right-on with his portrayal.
Owen Wilson is an interesting talent. He can be dizzyingly enjoyable to watch, or he can be annoying, cloying, and vapid. He walks a fine line with this schtick between one movie and the next, even though he's doing yeoman's work in each. He's great in movies like Dupree, Cars, or Meet the Parents, while he misses the mark in Shanghai Nights, Starsky and Hutch, and Around the World in 80 Days. It's puzzling. Grade: B+
I really don't like Owen's nose.
Posted by: terrible speller | July 20, 2006 at 02:05 PM
it's very lived in, no? funny, i've assumed chicks dig the nose because it's rugged and implies that he's full of life. but of course, i would probably not find such a bruised and crooked nose attractive on a woman... so where am I getting off? ;-)
Posted by: johnvano | July 20, 2006 at 03:06 PM
Matt Dillon is 42. Matt and the Professor spent some time together at a fertility clinic in 1998.
Posted by: Darnell Lamb | July 24, 2006 at 01:13 PM