‘The Dilemma’ Review: The Real Dilemma is the Movie.

Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Let’s get the bad news out of the way, shall we? The Dilemma, a cinematic ulcer masking as a buddy comedy, is just not good. In fact, it’s depressing, directionless, and worst of all, dumb. There are many things at fault, from a mismatched director, to tired jokes and wasting a talented cast. But the biggest offender is the somber premise: A man discovers that his best friend’s wife is having an affair, and spends almost two hours struggling with whether or not he should tell said friend about the infidelity. Adultery, betrayal, lies—yup, sounds like really funny stuff.

It starts out pleasant enough.  Nick (Kevin James), the hoodwinked husband, and Ronny (Vince Vaughn) are best friends and business partners trying to break big in the automotive industry. They get their chance when Dodge asks them to come up with a green way to power classic muscle cars. To celebrate the new venture, Nick and Ronny hit the town with their ladyloves, Nick’s wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) and Ronny’s long-time girlfriend Beth (Jennifer Connelly). As the couples drink and dance (obviously an excuse to showcase Vaughn’s smooth moves and James’s jerky gyrations, a sight gag that’s been done before and better), Ronny is in awe of how happy Nick and Geneva seem after all these years. His admiration prompts him to plan his long-overdue proposal to Beth, and all is fine and dandy in their world. Or so it seems.

While scouting romantic locations for his big proposal, Ronny spots Geneva cavorting with a taut, tattooed young dude named Zip (Channing Tatum, finally finding a name more ridiculous than his own). Ronny confronts Geneva, who denies the affair, so he undertakes an amateur investigation to get proof of Geneva’s unfaithfulness. This leads to Vaughn falling out of trees, slapstick man fights, run-ins with poison ivy, the accidental killing of a tropical fish, and enough misunderstandings and miscommunications to fill a half-hour episode of Three’s Company.

But The Dilemma stretches out these mirthless mishaps to fill an unbearably long two-hour film. Screenwriter Allan Loeb tries to flesh out the rest of the script with an unnecessary and uninteresting workplace subplot, which seems included only to have Queen Latifah as a Dodge employee waxing raunchy about girl boners. Really. It’s during one of Ronny and Nick’s pitches at Dodge that the controversial “gay joke” occurs, and it’s an awkward and alienating moment in the film. Calling electric cars and tutu-wearing kittens “gay” is not edgy; it’s lazy and lame, not to mention offensive. And, as is to be expected, the joke falls flat on its face, as does the rest of the film.

Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

The real problem is that The Dilemma is trying to be two different movies at once— a bromantic comedy, and a heartfelt drama. Except that the comedy bits aren’t particularly funny, and the dramatic stuff holds no weight. Like Vaughn’s 2006 “comedy” The Break-Up, the film tries to make light of its dark subject, but it can’t manage to strike a balance between the two, and as a result, the silly slapstick comedy seems jarring against angry arguments and uncomfortable confrontations.

It’s disappointing considering the promising pedigree of the film’s major players. Ron Howard, director and producer of the film, is a two-time Oscar-winner and has consistently churned out solid dramas like Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon. The Dilemma is Howard’s first non-drama in over a decade, and his comedic rustiness shows. The film’s tonal confusion is a result of both Loeb’s disjointed script and Howard’s own need to make the plights of the characters ring true. The hard truth is that they don’t.

Despite talented actors at their disposal, the filmmakers simply don’t know what to do with them, turning a likeable cast into unlikable characters. Vaughn, still spewing out script like a faulty slots machine, is great in ensemble pieces, a welcome touch of acidic sarcasm, but he’s in almost every scene of The Dilemma, and his signature snarkiness quickly turns bitter. James is, as usual, amiable and enthusiastic, but, other than some science skills and an affinity for happy endings (the gross kind), his character is given no real distinguishable qualities. Howard, who once directed Connelly to an Oscar win in A Beautiful Mind, relegates her to the bland perfect girlfriend role, as if Ronny ordered her out of a J Crew catalogue. The best of the bunch is Ryder, who has a nice bitchy bite as the adulterous Geneva, but her efforts are for naught, as she all but disappears by the film’s end. It’s great to see Ryder on a bit of a comeback, but girlfriend needs to stick with Black Swan material and forget about schlock like The Dilemma. Hopefully soon I’ll forget about it too.

Surprisingly somber and pretty stupid, The Dilemma attempts to be a hybrid of comedy and drama, and manages to fail at both. With a few simple gear changes, the film could have cruised along, but instead it crashes and burns: D

About Chree Izzo

Chree Izzo (COM/CAS '11) loves pop culture more than Snookie loves tanned juiceheads, which is saying something.

View all posts by Chree Izzo →

2 Comments on “‘The Dilemma’ Review: The Real Dilemma is the Movie.”

  1. I totally disagree with this review. I absoulutley loved this movie. I am a Big Vince Vaughn fan. He’s the same guy in most of his movies but it works. I think you should go see it for yourself!

    Dean

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *