CNS Movie Review: You, Me and Dupree

You, Me and Dupree

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Whatever its other infrequent virtues, "You, Me and Dupree" (Universal) certainly gives truth to the old adage "three's a crowd." And how!

When the film begins, Carl Peterson (Matt Dillon) is about to marry Molly (Kate Hudson), a dedicated fifth-grade schoolteacher, the daughter of his real estate tycoon boss, Mr. Thompson (Michael Douglas), who's just made Carl "lead designer" and green-lighted Carl's development project. Carl's best man is old buddy Randolph Dupree (Owen Wilson), a wildly immature clod seriously deficient in social skills.

Shortly after the Hawaiian wedding, Dupree reveals he has lost his job, home and car, so Carl feels obligated to offer his best friend their couch, much to Molly's discomfort, though she is extraordinarily magnanimous here and, in fact, throughout the film, never turning into a nag.

The loutish Dupree creates nothing but havoc and shows little sense of boundaries, as he blithely orders up HBO, puts his own voice on their answering machine and appropriates the couple's bathroom. This is particularly stressful for Carl, whose relationship with his father-in-law is becoming increasingly difficult. Despite the promotion and seeming encouragement, Mr. Thompson actually wants Carl to take the Thompson surname and have a vasectomy, and uses other, less literal, emasculating tactics.

Dupree has promised to put his job hunt on the fast track, but instead spends his days playing softball with the kids on the block. Matters reach a head when Dupree nearly burns down the house, during a torrid (off-camera) encounter with an apparently not-so-bookish librarian.

This is the last straw for the couple who finally insist he move out, but when they find him sitting pathetically on a bench during a torrential rainstorm, they take him back.

Shortly after, Dupree resolves to turn a new leaf. And does.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo's uneven comedy starts out irritating and contrived (why don't Carl and Molly throw this guy out from the start?), but becomes more engaging as it goes along. Once Dupree is rehabilitated (revealing a talent for gourmet cooking and a penchant for poetry!), the story -- and especially his character -- becomes easier to take. By the end, Dupree has become downright lovable.

Wilson, Dillon and Hudson are excellent, and display assured timing, once Michael Le Sieur's predictable but heartfelt script gives them something to work with. The vulgar elements such as Dupree's sexual antics, and even Carl's hidden porn stash, though unfortunate, are far less pervasive than in most films of this type, and are used more as minor sight gags than protracted endorsements of licentiousness.

The film's humanistic tone, the characters' ultimate decent behavior, and feel-good affirmations of love, marriage and friendship must be conceded as pluses in this modern-day riff on the (need we say?) superior "The Man Who Came to Dinner."

The film contains some profanity, rough and crude language, sexual humor and innuendo, scatological humor, implied premarital kinky sex, brief rear and partial nudity, and a drug reference. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

END

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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