Dinner for Schmucks

The latest comedy from director Jay Roach (Austin Powers) has Tim (Paul Rudd) looking for a promotion at work. In order to get the promotion he has to attend a dinner with his coworkers where each one tries to bring the biggest idiot they can find so they can all make fun of them. Enter Barry (Steve Carell) who enjoys dressing up dead mice as historical figures and making them into pieces of art. Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) also appears as an eccentric artist that works with Tim’s girlfriend lending to more antics.

This movie is funny. But it also made me a little uncomfortable. It’s one of that those that is “what else could go wrong.” There were several parts that made me laugh out loud. Carell is great as usual and I love Paul Rudd. I never really connected with and it takes a good hour and a half to actually get to the dinner. I think others will like it more than me so I would recommend seeing it.

Winter’s Bone

The Sundance Jury Prize Winner has Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), a 17 year old that is forced to take care of her two younger siblings and whacked out mom in the back woods of the Ozarks. They are poor, really poor. Ree finds out that her father, who is missing, has put shack that they barely live in up as collateral for his bond to get out of jail. If Ree doesn’t find her father in time for his court date they will be forced to leave. This leads her on a quest that has her in dangerous territory in a town whose main trade is meth.

This movie is really pretty good. A lot of Oscar talk for Lawrence which is well deserved. This movie is very raw and authentic. You can tell a lot of the scenes were improvised and much of the cast are actual locals. This is a small budget movie with no score or clever camera tricks. It’s just a story and not really a happy one. It’s kind of refreshing.

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