Wilson disappoints in ‘You, Me and Dupree’

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In theaters

YOU, ME AND DUPREE, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, written by Michael Le Sieur, 108 minutes, rated PG-13.

In the new comedy “You, Me and Dupree,” the “You and Me” of the title are Carl and Molly Peterson (Matt Dillon, Kate Hudson), two newlyweds whose lives should presumably be infused with happiness, love, laughter, and plenty of good, uninterrupted sex.

At least for the first year.

But as the film’s title suggests, they also must deal with Dupree (Owen Wilson), Carl’s longtime best friend and the best man at their swanky island wedding whose life, shall we say, is lived a bit more unconventionally than most.

Dupree, you see, is something of a retro hippie throwback – with his bleached locks, surfer talk and surfer drag, he recalls a beach bum of yesteryear.

And we all know how much fun they can be, particularly when they’re close to 40 and can’t hold a job, can’t pay the rent, can’t afford a car or any food to eat.

The bar Dupree frequents no longer wants much to do with him – apparently, there is plenty of competition for the cot in the back room – and so it comes down to Carl to help his wayward friend get back on his feet.

Predictably, that isn’t so easy to do, particularly when you’re dealing with an intrusive, amiable mess such as Dupree, who moves in with Carl and Molly and immediately turns the shaky first days of their marriage into turmoil.

The movie, which Anthony and Joe Russo based on Michael Le Sieur’s script, seems like a natural extension of Wilson’s last major hit, “The Wedding Crashers,” in which he played a character who crashed weddings. On the other side of the altar, where he crashes the Peterson’s marriage, things aren’t nearly as bright or as funny – and don’t blame the presence of a ring.

The trouble with “Dupree” goes beyond its idiot plot. For it to succeed, Wilson needed to bring an enormous groundswell of charm to the role. If he didn’t (and he doesn’t – all he brings is his usual bag of tricks), then how are we to believe that his character would be allowed to stay under Carl and Molly’s roof when, at one point, he literally almost burns down the house beneath it?

For any movie to succeed, the audience must first be able to suspend a certain level of belief. If the balance is tipped too far, it can be increasingly difficult to keep the blinders on and just go along with whatever unfolds.

This is especially true for “Dupree,” which in spite of a few mild laughs and a nicely oily performance by Michael Douglas as Molly’s wealthy, meddling father, collapses the moment Dupree arrives at the Petersons’ house with a giant moosehead in tow. Like so much of this movie, the moosehead is a broad gimmick, it isn’t funny, and a better place for it would have been a toilet.

You know, the one in which this movie naturally features yet another all-too-familiar-feeling scene.

Grade: C-

On HD DVD

CINDERELLA MAN, directed by Ron Howard, written by Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldman, 144 minutes, rated PG-13.

Ron Howard’s “Cinderella Man,” now available in high definition on HD DVD, opens on Nov. 30, 1928, with real-life boxer Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) in the ring and beating the daylights out of Gerald Ambrose “Tuffy” Griffiths.

It’s a punishing fight, brisk and ferocious, with Griffiths struck dumb in the hail of Braddock’s blows.

Behind the camera, Howard is just as aggressive, swinging around the ring with such finesse that the scene draws inward, boiling down to the swiftness of the man’s right hook, the jaw it repeatedly slams, the cheer of the crowd. A mere 48 seconds into the second round and Griffiths is flat on his back, with little X’s for eyes and a triumphant Braddock scoring a knockout win.

For his trouble, Griffiths goes home with a broken face and a wounded spirit, but for Braddock and his manager, Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti), things are a bit rosier. They’re sharing a $15,000 pot. If history wasn’t poised to have its way with them, you’d swear their immediate futures would remain as bright as this.

But that’s not the case. This smart, beautifully crafted drama wastes no time eroding into the next four years, where the bleak reality of the Great Depression has put down roots and pushed up thorns.

It’s here, in this gray world of hard times and harder luck, that Braddock has become a has-been bum with a broken right hand and a dead career.

At home is Mae (Renee Zellweger) and their three kids, who are drinking watered-down milk and wearing watered-down smiles in a dingy cellar apartment straight out of Dickens. Even before the power is shut off, there seems to be no light in this room, just a damp darkness that eats the light. With the bills piling up, they are a family nearly without hope, which is amplified when their youngest boy develops a cough that sends them and this movie into turmoil.

But not syrup, not cheese. “Cinderella Man” plays by the rules of the genre, yes, but its saving grace is that it doesn’t condescend to the times with false sentiment. Howard believes in this tale and these people, and with the help of his excellent cast, he elevates his story into the real thing.

Channeling Frank Capra, he gets strong, moving performances from Crowe, Giamatti and Zellweger while building his movie to an almost operatic second chance for Braddock.

Grade: A

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.