My mother loved the late Perry Como. Still does. But whenever the smooth-voiced singer would come on the Arizona oldie station KOY, she’d joke that the former barber was the laziest crooner around.
It wasn’t that Como couldn’t be bothered to make a song pleasing. He always did. But he was just so darned relaxed.
This is how I’ve come to think of Owen Wilson: as one of the laziest movie stars around. Sometimes the lax shtick of this Wilson brother – a movie trio that includes Luke and cameo-prone Andrew – wears thin. “Cars,” for instance, was a lesser Pixar vehicle for having Wilson behind the wheel as hero Lightning McQueen.
But Wilson turns out to be the life force in “You, Me and Dupree,” a supremely slight comedy that stars Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson as newlyweds.
When Carl (Dillon) marries Molly (Kate Hudson), Dupree stands by his side as best man (or “BM,” as the insignia he requests reads). From his arrival – late, naturally – on the Hawaiian island where the nuptials will take place, Dupree proves to be that common comedy commodity: the lovable misfit who is occasionally wise and nearly always forgiven.
Michael Douglas plays Mr. Thompson. A successful real-estate developer, he’s the father of the bride and boss of the groom. From the moment he lifts his glass for an edgy toast at the rehearsal gathering, he’ll make sure Carl never forgets these facts.
Soon after Molly and Carl’s honeymoon, Dupree tells his best friend that because he missed work for the wedding, he was sacked. Because he was canned, he lost his apartment. Because he lost the job, he lost his second abode, his car.
So when Carl brings his mutt of a pal to his and Molly’s house, Dupree will have a shot at wrecking a second home.
If “You, Me and Dupree” sounds predictable, it is. Brother directors Anthony and Joe Russo never shake off the sitcom rhythms they used to better effect on Fox’s “Arrested Development.” And while Michael Le Sieur wrote some swift lines, those familiar with the playful wet-towel snap of Wilson’s delivery will believe the best were improvised. (“If you’re looking for a workhorse, a Clydesdale,” he tells a potential employer, “I’m not it.”)
Two love triangles clang noisily in this film. Carl, Molly and Dupree make up the one of the title. But it’s not until Dupree and Molly begin to bond that this one amuses. When the unemployable layabout visits Molly’s elementary school class on Career Day, the movie and their relationship finds its sweet spot.
But like a number of quasi-romantic comedies these days, the core relating takes place between the fellas. And the threesome here – Mr. Thompson, Carl and Dupree – speak to ongoing conflicts of the young American male. Thompson represents alpha dog power. He’s not going to roll over without a snarl. No one needs a volume of Freud to appreciate the subtext of Thompson giving his son-in- law a brochure on vasectomies.
As for Carl, he’s lost his bearings – his “Carl-ness” says Dupree. Will he swing toward Mr. Thompson’s greed-is-good posturing? Will he, like friend Neil (Seth Rogen), continue to treat Molly like a mommy and not his friend and mate?
Dupree offers a third way. He’s the wild card, the potential trump card that wins in the game of life. At least that is the fantasy being hawked here. And amiable Wilson is one of the best hucksters in the biz for this particular product.
“The truth is some of you are going to just float along,” he tells the confused, then rapt grade-schoolers. “Some of you are going to languish until the mother ship calls upon you.”
After a recent preview screening someone said to me: “That Owen Wilson, what a fool.”
She’s right: When he’s firing on all cylinders, Wilson plays the trickster catalyst, the knowing knave with charming lassitude. Now if only his accidental sage can find a fable worth his goofball wisdom.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-820-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com.
“You, Me and Dupree” | ** RATING
PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference|1 hour, 45 minutes|ROMANTIC COMEDY|Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo; written by Michael Le Sieur; photography by Charles Minsky; starring Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, Seth Rogen, Amanda Detmer and Michael Douglas |Opens today at area theaters.
This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, this review incorrectly stated that Owen Wilson is the oldest of the Wilson brothers. Andrew Wilson is the oldest.
