Blu-ray Review: Dinner for Schmucks
Overall: 4.0 Stars (out of 5)
Synopsis
Tim Conrad's (Paul Rudd) boss hosts a dinner party where he invites his friends to bring along the saddest, most pathetic loser they can find. But when the ultimate schmuck (Steve Carell) arrives, his actions somehow turn everyone else into the losers. Comic heavy hitters Zach Galifianakis and Ron Livingston lend able support in director Jay Roach's (Austin Powers) darkly humorous film, an adaptation of the French comedy The Dinner Game. Starring: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement, Stephanie Szostak
Director: Jay Roach
Blu-ray Release Date: January 4, 2011.
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese.
Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%,
Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt
Audio (3.9 Stars)
Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison
Subwoofer - 3.5 Stars
Dialog - 5.0 Stars
Surround Effects - 3.0 Stars
Dynamic Range - 4.0 Stars
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Dinner for Schmucks is not the type of movie that showcase's an impressive audio experience. All the witty jokes and silly comments are heard because of the clear and decisive audio for dialog. I felt that there were several missed opportunities where more ambient sounds could have been used, and more immersive effects during the few “action scenes in the movie.
Video (4.3 Stars)
Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu Ray Edition used as basis for comparison
Color Accuracy - 4.5 Stars
Shadow detail - 4.0 Stars
Clarity - 4.0 Stars
Skin tones - 4.5 Stars
Compression - 4.5 Stars
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 1.78:1, Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
There is a scene where a character's face turns beet red, I laughed. Then I watched it again, and I marveled when I realized it wasn't special effects. Since this movie is about losers, there are a few scenes with plaid clothing, and the detail and color almost makes it look tasteful. Overall video performance is just okay, however the opening credits of mice in lifelike dioramas are spectacular.
Bonus Features (4.0 Stars)
The Biggest Schmucks in the World HD
The Men Behind the Mouseterpieces HD
Meet the Winners HD
Schmuck Ups HD
Deleted Scenes HD
Paul and Steve: The Decision HD
Movie (3.0 Stars)
Dinner for Schmucks is laugh out loud funny at times, and painfully embarrassing at others. Unfortunately for me, the embarrassing moments were only uncomfortable and not very funny. It's hard to make a good movie about turning innocent people into laughable jokes for the rich. However, this movie did succeed in making the characters likeable and giving the movie a heart ... at times.
Some of the scenes seemed like filler to the main plot, and were unbelievable and dragged the movie down. I also found it hard to believe that the Schmucks were that dim-witted and desperate. However, when we do finally get to the dinner, the payoff is funny and satisfying and it left me wishing that most of the movie was actually at the Dinner for Schmucks.