Vince Vaughn and Kevin James Have a Big Gay Problem in the Dilemma Trailer

"Ladies and gentleman, electric cars are gay." So says Vince Vaughn's character at the beginning of the trailer for Ron Howard's new relationship comedy, The Dilemma. Not that kind of gay, just gay. You see... um. Huh. Here's just a guess: The dilemma for Universal will be in explaining this trailer to GLAAD.

Vaughn stars as Ronny, a Chicago salesman who is partners with his cuckold-ready best friend, Isaac (Kevin James). Good thing, too, since Isaac's wife (Winona Ryder) is secretly having an affair with a young, tattooed hottie (Channing Tatum). Naturally, Ronny finds out and winds up facing the titular dilemma: How do you tell your best friend that his wife is cheating on him?

The tone deaf opening aside, The Dilemma doesn't look that bad -- especially when compared to recent Vaughn entries into this genre, like Couples Retreat -- but something feels a bit off. Perhaps that's because of course James is the one with the cheating wife and not Vaughn (whose on-screen girlfriend here is Jennifer Connelly, a long way from What's Wrong with Virginia?). Wouldn't The Dilemma have a lot more mileage if these two roles were reversed? Alas, maybe in the sequel.

VERDICT: Probably not.

If the trailer gets yanked down head over to Apple to watch.



Comments

  • jeff says:

    you know what's gay? poor jennifer connelly having to act opposite a tub of crisco and a bucket of homophobic fried chicken.

  • mike says:

    why is this acceptable? if you substituted any other racist slang for "gay" in that opening, the offended party would be up in arms. "The electric car is for Niggers." "The electric car is for Kikes"
    shouldn't ron howard know better? and brian grazer? and eddie Egan? and Queen Latifah? this is unaccepatble.

  • The Pope says:

    Big mistake. Big. Huge.

  • Strawberry Pain says:

    Doesn't this fall under the same category as that covered by South Park in The F Word episode? (Episode 1312).

  • Bronson says:

    It's all about the frat guy demo, which they just locked in the first ten seconds.
    Question of taste aside, that's Vince Vaughn's audience.

  • Martini Shark says:

    Well the real question here is do they have a rape scene in the film, or is it rape rape?

  • Austin says:

    Well, gay has a meaning of effeminate, non assertive and ultimately wimpy. That is probably more clear than the has sex with creatures of the same gender.
    The idea stems from the belief that gays go gay cuz they can't get chicks, a cowardly move.
    Nigger has the connotation entirely different from that and not suited to an electric car, unless it had a huge sub system and nothing else.
    Well, thats as intolerant an explanation as I can get, it will offend everyone, and answer the question.

  • Quirky- says:

    ...so you won't be buying a car from Vince Vaughn anytime soon then?

  • Amy says:

    there's no dilemma in this. but I'm sensing that there is a big twist to this story. It could be a few different things...

  • William Dwyer says:

    I don't get it. It's part of the script, thus it's part if the character's dialog of who the character is. If Vaughn himself said something like that in public, that would be one thing. For now, there is no big gay problem. If anything they should push the issue to make it more controversial. They'll sell more tickets that way.

  • William Dwyer says:

    Oh wait, here's a thought, let's wait for the movie to come out and actually watch the scene play out.

  • FM says:

    There is no art in this film it is just pandering with callous disregard for a quick buck. It's not just a script, it was a knowingly harmful choice. The comment was right they woudn't have tried to put in any other oppressed minority in that line and expect to get away with it.
    WTF Opie?

  • rh says:

    Saying "gay" is now the equivilent of saying "nigger"??? But the title of this blog post uses the word "gay." That must means its authors have a big gay problem too!
    Oh good lord people....grow up already.

  • Mark says:

    It's not Vince Vaughn saying it. It's his character. He's probably playing a character who would talk like that. Such things happen with acting all the time. Besides, the homosexual community does not own the word "gay." It was in use with other meanings long before it came to be applied to homosexuality. As used in the movie, it's not a given that they're saying electric cars are gay in the sense of gay vs. masculine. It could just as easily be that the comparison is between a car that is like lively, merry music (one of the dictionary uses of "gay") and a car that is like heavy metal.
    I don't use the statement "that's so gay" myself, but if you've ever seen George Carlin's routine on baseball vs. football, I always think of something that is referred to as being "gay" as being like his description of baseball. If the word only meant "homosexual," then it would obviously be a slur, but if you look it up in the dictionary, that particular definition is preceded by several other definitions.