Film Reviews

The Dilemma

• Rating:
• Director: Ron Howard
• Starring: Jennifer Connelly
• Details: US/ 112 mins (12A)

A comedy of errors built of blocks of dramatic clay, this awkward and uneven film marks a low point in the career of the once stellar Vince Vaughn. The actor seems to predominately work with material that reflects certain aspects of his life, and evidently leads a boring existence now - having previously found movie stardom on the back of hip, indie classic, Swingers. A chunk of the blame has to be laid at the door of Ron Howard, who directs with complete indifference.
Vaughn and Kevin James play hetro life-mates since college who have since gone into business together designing electric engines for muscle-cars. Just as they're tenuously close to bagging a huge deal with a manufacturer, Vaughn catches his best bud's missus (a strangely unhinged Ryder) accosting Channing Tatum's himbo with her mouth. Does he tell his best mate or wait until the deal is done? On top of that, he's trying to plan a proposal to his inexplicably cool other half, Jennifer Connolly.
If The Dilemma held its hands up to not having an original idea in its entire running time it wouldn't matter once it was funny, or moderately engaging. Hollywood is churning out less and less adult-aimed comedy/dramas and this lame affair shoots wide. Vaughn is a very funny, charismatic guy, but his choices in material are becoming increasingly lazy and his work here is no different than Couples Retreat. He's a wound-up, fast talking salesman in a relationship with a beautiful woman and he's quickly morphing into a career trajectory similar to Adam Sandler's. Pretty soon audiences won't want to see him in anything else, or simply get bored of what he's doing - it's a dangerous game.
The comedy is built mainly on misunderstandings and the only actor given any meat to chew on is Vaughn. There are a couple of mildly funny moments, most of which are courtesy of Tatum. His character is the only one given a clear directive (be silly, get laughs) and he does that well. Howard tries to balance everyone else's "comedy/forced drama" and fails. Improvisation won't work without some direction or moulding and there appears to be precious little of that here on Howard's part.
Given the cast, and the obvious potential for giggles and decent drama, The Dilemma is hugely disappointing.

Review by Mike Sheridan