The Dilemma (2011)

Do you ever hear things through the grapevine that make you want to NOT like a movie? "The Dilemma" was one of those flicks for me. I heard so much bad stuff about it, that where I would typically want to watch it just to see how wrong everybody was, I actually didn't want to see it at all.

Quite frequently, problems occur at my local Blockbuster, where titles that are supposed to be on the shelf on a given day, aren't. So when this movie finally made it to the shelf 1 1/2 weeks after its release date (their excuse was that Direct TV bought out Blockbuster, and they were closing negotiation contracts with movie studios), it was the only fairly new release there on that particular day that I hadn't seen. So, I reluctantly picked it up.

First off, this was improperly billed as a comedy. WRONG! It's not even a dark comedy. I laughed all of three times, and only once out loud. It's all about soul searching and trying to decide how to do what is right in an almost impossibly awkward situation. It's about questioning whether or not to follow your heart or your head. It's about seeing honesty for what it truly is. It's about relationships and the ability to maintain fidelity within one where the entire physical part of it has been removed. It's about much, much more, as well.

Now I can see why everyone bashed "The Dilemma" from here to Kingdom Come. It was billed as a comedy, and the movie viewers came out of the theater confused as to why they barely laughed, let alone why they hardly cracked a smile. The human psyche is a computer that is programmable. If you program that computer to think that it is going to see an comedy and nothing is funny, the computer goes haywire. Somewhere inside it's intricate information pathways is the repetitive phrase, "That does not compute! That does not compute! That does not compute!" The end result is confusion, which breeds a dislike of what caused the confusion. It wasn't the movie, folks. It was the idiots who tried to pass it off as a comedy, when it was clearly a drama with a couple of small funny bits for comic relief.

So, I'm here to tell you this: If you watch this movie with your brain already programmed to see a drama, you'll love it. Period. I'll give it four stars! ****

Blu-Ray specifics: Excellent PQ! Better AQ! Fair on the Extras!

Let's face it: Finding your best friend's wife is cheating on him, and then trying to tell him (and then trying NOT to tell him), isn't funny. A great comedic director could take that situation and turn it around, make the serious hysterical. Ron Howard, alas, is not a great comedic directer. He's a pretty darn good dramatic director, however, which ultimately hinders THE DILEMMA.

The problem is, the film isn't funny. Even when it tries, which it rarely does. At moments, the film achieves a certain poignancy that is touching; it examines the crevices of the buddy-buddy relationship (in a much more serious way than, say Judd Apatow usually does), and hits some disturbingly harsh notes. What is most frustrating is that the cast (yes, even Kevin James) is up for the challenge: Vince Vaughn has proven himself a dramatic actor in the past, as has Jennifer Connelly. James holds his own; in fact, when he's at his worst when he's trying for yucks. Winnona Ryder delivers a solid, understated performance (as she did in BLACK SWAN). Queen Latifah is a bit over-the-top in her minor role, but Channing Tatum is surprisingly not; not that he's suddenly metamorphosed into a mesmerizing actor (his "emotional" scene opposite Vaughn makes the latter look like a true thespian), but at least he's trying here.

Allan Loeb's script is a bit two-dimensional, and Ron Howard's directing, as it unfortunately can be, is lazy; this film meanders, and never truly finds its place. It's not funny--I saw it in a packed (I know!) theater, and there were mostly groans--and it's not tender; it's uncomfortable to watch, but usually in the wrong ways. Occasionally the film strikes just the right awkward note, giving you a peak at the film it COULD have been. But then, who would want to go see a drama starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James? Maybe somebody should get that project started; both actors apparently have the chops to pull it off, and, if nothing else, they have pretty good on-screen chemistry.

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My boyfriend and I rented this movie the other night out of sheer boredom, boy, was that a mistake! There were maybe two scenes that made us laugh, the rest of the movie we yawned and just commented on how boring the movie is. I personally didn't like any of the characters, and the only one I felt some sympathy toward was Jennifer Connelly's. Queen Latifah had few lines and I think she was the funniest character in this movie. I am not a professional movie reviewer, but I would not recommend this movie to anyone unless you are planning to be bored.

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This is over 2 hours long and there are very few laughs if any in this film. The pace is slow and the overall message quite depressing. This is the movie equivalent of a 2 hour budget airline flight. If you want to be uncomfortable and frustrated for 2 hours then this is the film for you.

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I couldn't eject this popporn fast enough. Howard has lost it. I had a feeling like you get when a centipede craws across your arm.........no, that is stimulating as well as creepy.

This schlock is just creepy. It's more like drinking sewer water accidentally (not that I've done that recently). Actually, now that I think about it, it's more like toxic sludge that gets dumped on your soul. If you like TV this one's for you. "Hilarious" my bottom.

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