Wedding Crashers could have a lot to answer for. The success of the Frat Pack box office slayer has resulted in a virtual open chequebook policy from the studios for its stars, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. How wisely the cash is being spent, however, is up for debate.
In You, Me and Dupree, Wilson once again gets to act the buffoon, as a perpetual teenager incapable of holding on to his job or his apartment – which is why he ends up at the plush home of his newly married best pal Carl (Matt Dillon). Carl’s prissy wife Molly is patient but less than impressed, while his boss and father-in-law (Michael Douglas) piles on the pressure to make a combustible mix.
As a set-up there’s been worse, and Wilson is always watchable as a loveable loser. Moreover, directors Anthony and Joe Russo are best known for their TV work on the highly creative Arrested Development. But sadly there’s no such imagination here: the story is so predictable it could be on rails, the characters are unbelievable and the sub-plots implausible and directionless. Even Wilson’s shtick starts to take its toll and, like his temporary landlady Molly, you can’t help but wish he’d quit screwing around and move it along.
