The New Dinner for Schmucks Trailer: Table for Two

When the first trailer for Dinner for Schmucks appeared in the spring, it was slightly underwhelming. Or, as underwhelming as something featuring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd could possibly be. Still, it felt like anything but a big summer release. Schmucks seemed like the type of spring comedy that Carell (Date Night) and Rudd (I Love You, Man) specialize in. How could Paramount make this thing look bigger? Well how about by adding a Patrick Stewart sound-alike voiceover and Edvard Grieg's "In the Hail of the Mountain King"! Say hello to Dinner for Schmucks, v.2.0.

By now, you should know the plot -- hey, look at the title again! -- but for those unaware: The Jay Roach-directed film -- an English-language remake of Francis Veber's 1998 French comedy The Dinner Game -- finds Rudd's character tasked with bringing the biggest idiot he can to a weekly dinner with his bosses. Enter Carell, in all his Brick Tamland glory, who presumably acts stupid and teaches Rudd the meaning of friendship.

Whereas the first trailer concentrated on setting that plot up, this one goes straight for laughs almost immediately -- Carell to a cape-wearing Zack Galifianakis: "I have laid eggs inside of your brain!" -- and they work! Dinner for Schmucks looks like broad and stupid idiocy, but what's wrong with that? Sure the Veber original is probably more layered -- there, Rudd's character is an unlikeable adulterer and not a put-upon straight man -- but it doesn't feature a moment where Carell confuses Nelson Mandela and Morgan Freeman. So, even?

VERDICT: Sold.