Vince Vaughn and Kevin James star as Ronny and Nick - two lifelong buddies with a business on the verge of becoming ubersuccessful. Ronny is the voice and business acumen behind the operation, while Nick is the brains behind the car engines they build, and they have a lucrative deal with Chrysler just within reach if Nick successfully can make an electric/hybrid engine that sounds like a muscle car. However, when Ronny witnesses Nick's wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder), fooling around with an oddly tattooed man, Zip (Channing "Abs of Steel" Tatum), he's not exactly sure how or if he should break the news.
Can Nick, already under immense pressure, handle such a revelation?
Would he believe Ronny?
Is that the most airbrushed poster you have ever scene?
Here's my biggest question. Where's the comedy that has been promised to us for months and months?
Director Ron Howard and writer Allan Loeb make The Dilemma meaner and more dramatic than I was anticipating, and more than it should be. If you're buying a ticket to this movie, you want to see Vince Vaughn with his hyper speech pattern and crazy eyes rolling around. You want to see Kevin James with his awkward and hilarious physical comedy and reactions, and you want to see the two of them riffing like a comedy version of Branford and Winton Marsalis.
Surprisingly, the funniest person in The Dilemma is Tatum (and his Abs of Steel). He makes Zip, who should be the villain in this whole scenario, into a silly, puppy dog, sensitive guy who gets laugh after laugh as he is confronted by other characters.
We get some of the fun moments we want, but we need more and we need the bond between Ronny and Nick to be stronger for us to feel this dilemma. We see them as buddies because that's what we are told at the beginning of the movie, instead of believing it because we see the chemistry and dedication to each other.
2 Waffles (Out of 4)
The Dilemma is rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving sexual content.
Director Ron Howard and writer Allan Loeb make The Dilemma meaner and more dramatic than I was anticipating, and more than it should be. If you're buying a ticket to this movie, you want to see Vince Vaughn with his hyper speech pattern and crazy eyes rolling around. You want to see Kevin James with his awkward and hilarious physical comedy and reactions, and you want to see the two of them riffing like a comedy version of Branford and Winton Marsalis.
Surprisingly, the funniest person in The Dilemma is Tatum (and his Abs of Steel). He makes Zip, who should be the villain in this whole scenario, into a silly, puppy dog, sensitive guy who gets laugh after laugh as he is confronted by other characters.
We get some of the fun moments we want, but we need more and we need the bond between Ronny and Nick to be stronger for us to feel this dilemma. We see them as buddies because that's what we are told at the beginning of the movie, instead of believing it because we see the chemistry and dedication to each other.
2 Waffles (Out of 4)
The Dilemma is rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements involving sexual content.
