The Dilemma

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This is not a comedy by any means. The laughter is sparse at best and does not belong in the tone of this pseudo-drama. It's not a drama either. It might have worked as a preposterous chick flick, except the principals caught in the conflict are guys, not chicks. Nobody, and I mean nobody would act the way the mentally retarded characters invented by the sceeenwriter would if faced with the situation. Not women, not men. Everybody in the film is pathetic, including the retarded lothario and the cheating spouse. I would hope that none of the actors in the film would act this way either, that is if they mistake themselves for adults. Alan Loeb already has one preposterous failed comedy to his credit..the excrable Switch. That's the Jennifer Anniston vehicle based on the hilarious proposition of an accidental sperm switch at a Manhattan insemination party. Yes. Talk about humorous possibilities. I would like to think a Sid Ceasar could rise from the grave, save the world from Alan Loeb, and then return. For those of you not living on earth, even the creepiest from Manhattan do not throw artificial insemination parties. Someone should tell Loeb. So in the The Dilemma we have two creepy non-friends with not a clue as to what real friendship means, and replace that with severe angst, violence, and lead bolt stupidity. Friends like this no one needs. But one suspects that is all the desperate Loeb can find. I wonder did the actors read this odiferous script and then sign on. Or did they merely need the paychecks, no matter how bad. I used to like Ron Howard's work. I started to turn against him when he defamed the memory of the late Max Baer Sr for no good reason in The Cinderella Man. He had the story hook of how hard the desperately poor James Braddock worked for his title shot, while then talented Baer ignored his training. So Howard reinvents Baer as a crazed arrogant killer. Unforgivable. Howard's new effort is worse. Friends don't let friends see the Dilemma

source: The Dilemma

Many will go into this movie expecting a roll on the floor comedy since Vince Vaughn and Kevin James are the leads. There are a lot of funny moments in this movie that will have you laughing out loud if you like the Vince Vaughn brand of humor of getting under people's skin. Queen Latifah is hilarious in this movie too and was actually a breath of fresh air to make up for Kevin James who was a little more on the serious side in this movie. Most movies he tends to be either the clumsy or naive part. I won't get into the whole plot because you know it and have seen the trailer a million times. The whole moral of the story is what would you do if you caught your best friend's wife cheating. Do you have the tenacity to tell your best friend or just sweep it under the carpet? Movie overall is good, acting is great, and fun to watch. A little on the long side but a good date movie. 8/10

How could one go wrong with a cast like Jennifer Connelly, Vince Vaughn, Winona Ryder, Kevin James and Queen Latifah? While 'The Dilemma' isn't among the worst movies, it's still a big disappointment. The premise doesn't promise a classic but it sounded funny and since Vaughn and James were involved, I expected to laugh and with Ryder and especially Connelly, I expected some substance. 'The Dilemma' is a complete failure where substance is concerned. It did make me laugh on a few (very few occasions). Plot holes are very apparent and I also thought it was ridiculous how the story was making Ryder's Geneva to look like the villain when her husband is equally to be blamed for the same. In addition, the story deviates in the last half hour only to head further downhill. Vince Vaughn's Ronny is more vulnerable than the characters he usually plays and he does a good job. Kevin James's Nick suffers from poor writing. It's good to see Winona Ryder back in a meaty role (even though it was a small part). Luminous beauty and immensely talented Jennifer Connelly is criminally wasted. Ditto for the voluptuous Queen Latifah.

Ibsen's Wild Duck this is not although both works espouse Ibsen's claim of the ideal (in The Wild Duck) in which full disclosure is a matter of principle, regardless of the cost. That is to say, Ronnie Valentine (Vince Vaughn) struggles to tell his best bud, Nick Brannen (Kevin James) that his wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder), is cheating on him. My dilemma is that this is billed as a comedy when the laughs are few and the action is drama-oriented if you judge by the heartache Ronnie goes through trying to decide what to do. Otherwise, it's a bland rom-com without the courage to explore the vagaries of friendship and love outside of the clichés the script concocts.

"The Dilemma" is the exact sort of film I try to avoid seeing: It bills itself as a comedy, but the laughs are few and far between; I haven't liked Vince Vaughn in anything else except "Swingers"; I don't care for Kevin James or Queen Latifah; and the movie's basically a two-hour commercial for the Dodge Challenger. Nonetheless, when my friends dragged me to see it, I actually sort of enjoyed the movie. The basic plot of the movie is that best-friends-since-college Ronny and Nick (Vaughn and James) run an engineering firm that is vying to help redesign the engine of the new Dodge Challenger to be more eco-friendly without losing the macho factor. Ronny is nervous about wanting to propose to his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly), and then finds out that Nick's wife (Winona Ryder) is having an affair. The next 90 minutes Ronny debating with himself on what to do with this knowledge, punctuated by some rather lame slapstick. There are--however--plenty of redeeming features that save this film. First is that director Ron Howard--although not a master craftsman--is a capable, professional director and rarely misses a chance to insert a funny cameo from little brother Clint. Second is the script from Allan Loeb, which makes each of the four leads a believable three-dimensional character rather than some by-the-numbers cardboard cutout. And finally, there are also the performances by the two female leads: Jennifer Connelly has always been great, going back to her years as a child actor; and Winona Ryder (who I had a crush on in the early '90's and who is as beautiful as ever pushing 40) looks ready for a career comeback in her biggest role since her shoplifting conviction. As an aside, I also want to say that there a couple of scenes with a very subtle political (pro-tea-party) undercurrent that I disagree with. However, unlike most politically aware movies since "Roger & Me", the filmmakers don't try to bludgeon the audience with their beliefs, so it doesn't detract from the film as a whole--for which I am grateful. "The Dilemma" is not Oscar-caliber. It is not a great film. I will not buy it on DVD. It's crassly commercial and the "funny" bits just don't work. But as far as mainstream Hollywood early-year releases go, it's actually okay.

The first scene of The Dilemma starts with The Band's lyrics, "Baby don't you do it, don't do it!" For some reason, these words resonated with me immediately as if they were telling me to get the hell out of the screening of this movie before it started. I didn't heed the warning and boy, do I regret it! The Dilemma is about Vince Vaughn's painful struggle over whether or not to tell his best friend (played by Kevin James) that his best friend's wife (Winona Ryder) is cheating on him. Simple enough concept that should have been delivered more than capably by this "all-star cast" which also includes Queen Latifah and Jennifer Connelly. But the main problem with this bromance is that it cannot decide whether it is a comedy or a brutally-dark drama. If you go in thinking this is a comedy, you will be shocked by the sinister violence perpetrated by and upon a couple of characters in the movie - something I was not prepared for or appreciated. Listen, I watched The Fighter and loved every minute of it - so, I am not against violence in movies where I go in knowing what I've bargained for. But when I go into a movie billed as a romantic comedy, I don't want to be subjected to seeing any kind of violent bloodshed. Even worse, I felt absolutely zero chemistry between any of the couples, so much so that I almost found myself rooting for the affair between Winona and Channing Tatum. Except they miserably failed to heat things up too and were terribly mismatched. Plus Winona played an extremely unlikeable character. I just did not get the point of this movie. Best I can say about it is that at least Channing provided good eye candy. At times. So, thank you Channing for making this movie bearable. One final thought: I just want to know how did the director of A Beautiful Mind Ron Howard get attached to this train wreck?

Ron Howard has been successful in entertaining me and making good movies, and you can add The Dilemma to a list that also includes Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Cinderella Man, and Parenthood. He does another great job on directing this bromance comedy, making this his best comedy since Parenthood. The story is a brilliant one that I like. It shows how one friend is going through the trouble of whether or not to tell his best friend that his wife has been cheating on him. The story continues to stay funny thanks to the witty script by Allan Loeb and Howard's directing. Howard has put together an excellent cast led by Vince Vaughn. Vaughn stars as Ronny Valentine, who runs a car business with his best friend, Nick (played by Kevin James). Vaughn does sometimes do his usual kind of acting like he has pulled off in Wedding Crashers and Dodgeball, but he makes that work to his advantage. Vaughn gives a hilarious performance where he makes you compassionate in what he is going through. James is great as Nick, and shows that he still as talent as a comedy actor. James makes you feel bad for him even though he doesn't know what is really going on with Ronny. Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder are both also great as they are Vaughn's and James's female counterparts. Connelly shows how sweet she makes Beth when she shows her love and concern for Ronny. Connelly makes Beth out to be a very affectionate and loving girlfriend. Ryder gives a hilarious turn as Geneva, Nick's wife. What I like best about Ryder's performance is that she makes Geneva out to be the bad one and is hilarious at threatening Ronny. Overall, this is a fun comedy that continues to be funny as Ronny keeps getting himself into bigger and bigger trouble. What I liked best about The Dilemma is how Ron Howard is able to keep interest in his storytelling and to keep it funny. Howard shows that he is one of the best directors out there and can do any kind of movie.

Anyone who has had a best friend, male or female, knows that the situation that Vince Vaughn finds himself in is not one to be envied. While watching this movie, I constantly found myself frustrated yet sympathetic to the actions of both Vince and Kevin. The movie, listed as a comedy, seems to me to be more in the genre of a "Click" or "Spanglish" where you find yourself laughing at times but also absorbed with the drama within. I am going to call this movie a "Com-ma" (even though the cackling tween behind me would beg to differ). I must say that the movie was well paced and consisted of a great cast which is expected of Ron Howard. While it was not exactly what I expected going into it, I must say that I was pleased. I left the theater satisfied but this is not the type of movie I could watch over and over. Its biggest pro was the cast as Vince, Kevin, and Queen can rarely do harm in my book. The biggest con would be its lack of memorable funny lines. I wouldn't be surprised if this movie ends up at a 6.1 on IMDb. My final word is that "Great moments... are born from great opportunity," just hope that this opportunity isn't having to tell your best friend his wife is a cheater!