Owen Wilson is either an acquired taste or a comedic force who gathers more momentum and skill as he goes. In any case, he gets funnier and funnier with each film.
He ambles into "You, Me and Dupree" with his tumbleweed hair, twisted nose and exuberant demeanor and seizes control of your comedic attention. His twangy delivery is a combination of a California surf bum and a Texas rancher who's weaseled his way out of doing even a single day of work in his life. He seems like an old friend whom you never met.
So effervescent is Wilson as an undomesticated slacker who makes life hell for his best friend and his new wife, that you simply can't take your eyes off him. And that's saying something, considering he shares several scenes with that bundle of condensed sunshine known as Kate Hudson.
You don't want to check your watch, visit the bathroom or even blink for fear of missing the next comic flourish or one-liner you'll mangle badly when you try to repeat it at a party.
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Wilson is a no-brainer for "You, Me and Dupree," directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo. It's a relentlessly sitcomlike gimmick movie that's more predictable than the meager raise received after your performance review. And solely because of Wilson, aided by a script that's smarter and more observant than it needs to be, it's easily the best comedy so far this year.
Wilson is Dupree, a jobless fool who's a walking country song, having just lost his job and his car. His best pal, Carl (Matt Dillon), and Carl's new wife, Molly (Hudson), take him in. Dupree carries his moose head and beanbag through the door, and promises to get right on looking for a new job and place to live — never mind that his top priorities include channel surfing and playing baseball with the neighborhood kids.
Carl, buried in work thanks to his boss-slash-father-in-law, Mr. Thompson (Michael Douglas), shakes off most of Dupree's indiscretions with a roll of the eyes. On some level he envies Dupree's childlike disposition and heedless joy. Molly isn't so forgiving, at least at first. She's dreamed of starting her life with the man she loves, and suddenly finds herself burdened with an unasked-for third wheel. The dynamic shifts as the film moves along, with Carl growing increasingly sick of Dupree's nonsense while Molly slowly comes around to appreciate his intricacies.
While the show thoroughly belongs to Wilson, Douglas manages to forge a stranglehold on each of his scenes, playing to his typecast of a controlling executive. When he asks Carl to take the Thompson name instead of having Molly take Carl's, he's dead serious. He's also pretty deadly with a candlestick.
Another bright spot is Neil (Seth Rogen), Carl's henpecked friend who has to beg his wife for a free hour on "guy night." Carl, Dupree and Neil spend their guy time pounding down drinks. They'd be better off catching an Owen Wilson movie.
review
You, Me and Dupree
***1/2
Rated: PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference
Cast: Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, Michael Douglas
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Family call: A little too crude for younger kids.
Running time: 108 minutes
Opens Friday at: Park Place, El Con, Century Park, Foothills, DeAnza, Desert Sky, Cinemark
