YOU, ME AND DUPREE Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Universal Pictures
Grade: B
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written By: Michael Le Sieur
Cast: Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, Michael Douglas, Seth Rogen
Screened at: AMC 34th St., NYC, 7/15/06
Opens: July 14, 2006 Can Owen Wilson ever do wrong? Many critics appear to think so, some stating that his character, Dupree, outlasted his stay with the movie audience before he was deemed persona non grata by his California hosts. “You, Me and Dupree” is located not only in Hawaii and L.A. but in Sitcom City. Sitcom may be hooted down by elitists. A good one is still good. With Matt Dillon as the boss’s son-in-law, Carl, Kate Hudson as the fun-loving bride, Molly, and Michael Douglas in the “greed-is-good” role of land developer, Bob Thompson, the gears run swiftly, producing reasonably fine entertainment values. Carl is the put-upon straight-man and Molly is put-upon boss’s daughter, leaving Dupree as the victimizer, the fellow who puts on the others with a fair degree of mirth. It’s interesting to watch a stiff, anal-retentive worker turn aggressive against his best friend, the best man at his sumptuous, fabulously expensive wedding ceremony that unites, but ultimately disunites, a deliriously happy and beautiful Molly. Everyone changes during the course of a few days. Molly is to wind up on the brink of a divorce, Carl might well lose a well-paying cushy job working for his father-in-law, and Dupree will change from a laid-back, layabout unemployed loser to a laid-back, winning author of a best-selling book. In an unlikely situation, Dupree, who has been fired from his job because he took leave for his best-friend’s wedding without authorization from his boss, is now without a home. Feeling sorry for the guy, Carl takes him in “for just a few days until he gets on his feet,” despite Molly’s wide-eyed surprise and dismay. Situations go out of control even during the first week to such a degree that the boringly stable Carl goes for the jugular and Dupree’s well-to-do dad-in-law suggests that Dupree get a vasectomy. (This is unusual, considering that Bob Thompson wants Carl Peterson to rename himself Carl Peterson-Thompson, in order to carry on the family name, but hey, it’s a sit-com!) The backed-up toilet gag happily does not get milked for its vulgar potential and Dupree’s groovy relationship with a group of inner-city kids tells us that someone like the life-loving Molly would have done better to set herself up with him rather than the stick-up-his-butt guy she’s got. If one must be negative at all about the pic, it’s that it has been done before. But never before with Owen Wilson. Rated PG-13. 108 minutes 2006 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
