Dinner for Schmucks

**1/2 stars

Is witty randomness in a comedy funny or just plain random? That is the question I had to ask myself after Jay Roach's Dinner for Schmucks, a adaptation of the french film Le dîner de Cons. Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell offer their predictably comfortable chemistry, just comfortable enough where humor is expected, but too comfortable enough where it all becomes a bit too familiar. Carrell plays Barry, a mentally unstable alter ego of Rain Man who spends his days creating portraits out of dead mice. Rudd plays it safe with his go-to-persona as the likeable guy who dislikes everything and is forced to make a decision between his career and his personal life. But he only has to do that until the script hits the third act and lets him get everything anyways. I did catch myself laughing more than once at the film's stylishly crafted climatic dinner scene, but in the end, the result is a mixed bag.