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You, Me, and Dupree (HD DVD)
Universal // PG-13 // November 21, 2006 // Region 0
List Price: $39.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
I didn't hate You, Me, and Dupree.
Oh, don't get me wrong. The "hilarious, outrageous comedy!" promised by the promotional write-up on the back of the case it's not. Still, if you define hating a movie as soldiering through physical agony for ninety minutes, then no, I did not hate You, Me, and Dupree, and not just 'cause it's actually a hundred ten minutes.
You, Me, and Dupree plays it so safe that I
can't really get worked up about it. It's kind of like someone gave first-time screenwriter Mike LeSieur a boxed set of the third season of Three's Company and a TiVo season pass for CBS' Monday night comedy cavalcade, then offered him a couple million bucks to throw together a movie around 'em. There's not a whiff of originality, and both the paint-by-numbers story and the limp, lifeless comedy are as stale as a week old baguette. It's lazy, derivative hackery starring my arch-nemesis and yours, the Butterscotch Stallion himself, Mr. Owen Wilson.
Owen Wilson...y'know, the guy who didn't get any of the laughs in Wedding Crashers...is loveable cut-up Randy Dupree. Too busy living life to its fullest to pay the rent, Dupree turns to his old pal Carl (Matt Dillon) for some couch space. Carl's sweetie Molly (Kate Hudson), who still has that new wife smell, reluctantly agrees that Dupree can stick around for a couple of days. For the first stretch of the movie, Molly's there as a walking, talking reaction shot. Y'know: Dupree changed our cutesy answering machine message? Aghast reaction shot! Dupree ordered HBO? Reaction shot! Dupree's torched our living room while banging a Mormon librarian to the tune of "Funky Cold Medina"? Oh no! That's, like, two reaction shots! But Molly warms up to Dupree when the movie decides that he's not the asshole anymore. Carl takes the reins as Resident Prick when the escalating pressures of his job and the repeated emasculation from his domineering boss-slash-father-in-law (Michael Douglas) boil over. Carl's further annoyed that everybody loves them some Dupree, and convinced that his former buddy and Molly have some sort of fling going...yeah. So, that's enough for the plot summary.
This nearly two hour long sitcom sports a grand total of one and a half laughs (I kept a running tally! Plus I have a witness to back me up): a quick shot of Dupree getting a scoopful of some coital butter and one predictable but still funny line from a couple of strippers he hires. One of those strippers is played by Summer Altice, my all-time favorite Playboy playmate, and the fact that I have an all-time favorite Playboy playmate should be proof positive that I'm the target demographic for a dumb, unoriginal comedy. Other than that...? It's tolerable. I grinned a few times. Stopped and thought "that's kind of funny, I guess" once or twice. I don't think I actually groaned at any of the botched humor or slipped on any of Dupree's flopsweat. Dupree never once caught me off-guard, and you can spot every turn in the plot and every slice of telegraphed zaniness (!) miles off in the horizon. Aside from Kate Hudson
parading around in her skivvies for half the movie and some PG-13-friendly shots of Owen Wilson jerking off, there's nothing you can't get from flipping on TBS at 4:30 PM on a Thursday afternoon. Skip It.
Video: You, Me, and Dupree is one of the spiffier looking comedies on HD DVD at the moment. Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the high-def image is crisply defined, richly detailed in all but a couple of shots, and bolstered by a bright, vivid palette. Colors and contrast are both cranked up, so it's not exactly like peering out of a window (not my windows, at least), but I'm sure it's all part of the intended look of the movie. I didn't spot any print flaws or compression hiccups, and the film's tight, slightly grainy texture is preserved. If this were second grade, You, Me, and Dupree would get a shiny gold star.
Universal has issued You, Me, and Dupree on what the kids are calling a 30/9 combo disc. The HD DVD side is a dual-layered, 30 gig disc like most releases on the format, and the flipside is a standard definition disc playable on any traditional DVD player.
Audio: The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio sounds decent enough, but it's a standard issue comedy track. Y'know, dialogue's anchored front and center, the surrounds are reserved for a couple of scattered ambient effects and reinforcing various bits o' music...nothing that really screams out for a long, dweeby, overly technical write-up. Fine for what it is.
There are also six-channel dubs in French and Spanish along with the usual selection of subtitles.
Supplements: You, Me, and Dupree crams the same set of extras -- all of 'em in standard definition -- onto both sides of this combo disc.
There are two...count 'em!...two audio
commentaries on this disc. At the risk of getting my HD DVD Reviewer license revoked, I just listened to the first half hour of each track for a quick taste. The first of 'em pairs directors Joe and Anthony Russo, and although there are occasional hints of a dry wit, it's awfully stone-faced serious for a comedy commentary. There are a few too many lengthy gaps in the discussion, but it seemed comprehensive enough, tackling the casting, character notes, a couple of technical concerns, a few of the usual Wacky Production Anecdotes, and the different flavors of comedy they tried to incorporate into the movie. The way the Russos talk about what they were trying to accomplish with the story, you'd think they wrote it, but nope! That'd be the work of first timer Michael LeSieur, who teams up with producer Scott Stuber for commentary number two. It's not wall-to-wall chatter either, and a lot of the same ground is covered again, but the two of them are so much more personable and animated that I kinda wish I hadn't bothered with the Russos' track.
The disc also features an equally humorless alternate ending along with six minutes of deleted scenes. In one of 'em, Carl says "One more shot never killed anyone", and then it cuts to him stripping down and running into the ocean! Get it? He acts like having another drink couldn't possibly lead to anything embarrassing, and then in a completely unexpected reversal, he runs around naked! In public! Golly, it's hard to type while wiping a tear from my eye. This extra footage does answer one lingering question: why was Carl walking around with a framed Bruce Lee poster? All of that additional footage is letterboxed, non-anamorphic, and accompanied by optional audio commentary.
There are also the usual set of outtakes and a less-clever-than-it-sounds spoof trailer redrawing You, Me, and Dupree as a horror flick. The last of the extras is a scrapbook of Dupree's life with stuff like a ticket reading "Keep this coupon" and a note saying "I did!" There's a booger too 'cause boogers are gross and funny!!! A couple of videos are mixed in if you're feeling up to some menu-trawling. Universal incorporated some of this stuff into the menu design, livening up their usual generic template.
Conclusion: Shit sandwich.
Oh, don't get me wrong. The "hilarious, outrageous comedy!" promised by the promotional write-up on the back of the case it's not. Still, if you define hating a movie as soldiering through physical agony for ninety minutes, then no, I did not hate You, Me, and Dupree, and not just 'cause it's actually a hundred ten minutes.
You, Me, and Dupree plays it so safe that I
 |
| Oh no, Dupree!!! |
Owen Wilson...y'know, the guy who didn't get any of the laughs in Wedding Crashers...is loveable cut-up Randy Dupree. Too busy living life to its fullest to pay the rent, Dupree turns to his old pal Carl (Matt Dillon) for some couch space. Carl's sweetie Molly (Kate Hudson), who still has that new wife smell, reluctantly agrees that Dupree can stick around for a couple of days. For the first stretch of the movie, Molly's there as a walking, talking reaction shot. Y'know: Dupree changed our cutesy answering machine message? Aghast reaction shot! Dupree ordered HBO? Reaction shot! Dupree's torched our living room while banging a Mormon librarian to the tune of "Funky Cold Medina"? Oh no! That's, like, two reaction shots! But Molly warms up to Dupree when the movie decides that he's not the asshole anymore. Carl takes the reins as Resident Prick when the escalating pressures of his job and the repeated emasculation from his domineering boss-slash-father-in-law (Michael Douglas) boil over. Carl's further annoyed that everybody loves them some Dupree, and convinced that his former buddy and Molly have some sort of fling going...yeah. So, that's enough for the plot summary.
This nearly two hour long sitcom sports a grand total of one and a half laughs (I kept a running tally! Plus I have a witness to back me up): a quick shot of Dupree getting a scoopful of some coital butter and one predictable but still funny line from a couple of strippers he hires. One of those strippers is played by Summer Altice, my all-time favorite Playboy playmate, and the fact that I have an all-time favorite Playboy playmate should be proof positive that I'm the target demographic for a dumb, unoriginal comedy. Other than that...? It's tolerable. I grinned a few times. Stopped and thought "that's kind of funny, I guess" once or twice. I don't think I actually groaned at any of the botched humor or slipped on any of Dupree's flopsweat. Dupree never once caught me off-guard, and you can spot every turn in the plot and every slice of telegraphed zaniness (!) miles off in the horizon. Aside from Kate Hudson
parading around in her skivvies for half the movie and some PG-13-friendly shots of Owen Wilson jerking off, there's nothing you can't get from flipping on TBS at 4:30 PM on a Thursday afternoon. Skip It. Video: You, Me, and Dupree is one of the spiffier looking comedies on HD DVD at the moment. Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the high-def image is crisply defined, richly detailed in all but a couple of shots, and bolstered by a bright, vivid palette. Colors and contrast are both cranked up, so it's not exactly like peering out of a window (not my windows, at least), but I'm sure it's all part of the intended look of the movie. I didn't spot any print flaws or compression hiccups, and the film's tight, slightly grainy texture is preserved. If this were second grade, You, Me, and Dupree would get a shiny gold star.
Universal has issued You, Me, and Dupree on what the kids are calling a 30/9 combo disc. The HD DVD side is a dual-layered, 30 gig disc like most releases on the format, and the flipside is a standard definition disc playable on any traditional DVD player.
Audio: The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio sounds decent enough, but it's a standard issue comedy track. Y'know, dialogue's anchored front and center, the surrounds are reserved for a couple of scattered ambient effects and reinforcing various bits o' music...nothing that really screams out for a long, dweeby, overly technical write-up. Fine for what it is.
There are also six-channel dubs in French and Spanish along with the usual selection of subtitles.
Supplements: You, Me, and Dupree crams the same set of extras -- all of 'em in standard definition -- onto both sides of this combo disc.
There are two...count 'em!...two audio
commentaries on this disc. At the risk of getting my HD DVD Reviewer license revoked, I just listened to the first half hour of each track for a quick taste. The first of 'em pairs directors Joe and Anthony Russo, and although there are occasional hints of a dry wit, it's awfully stone-faced serious for a comedy commentary. There are a few too many lengthy gaps in the discussion, but it seemed comprehensive enough, tackling the casting, character notes, a couple of technical concerns, a few of the usual Wacky Production Anecdotes, and the different flavors of comedy they tried to incorporate into the movie. The way the Russos talk about what they were trying to accomplish with the story, you'd think they wrote it, but nope! That'd be the work of first timer Michael LeSieur, who teams up with producer Scott Stuber for commentary number two. It's not wall-to-wall chatter either, and a lot of the same ground is covered again, but the two of them are so much more personable and animated that I kinda wish I hadn't bothered with the Russos' track. The disc also features an equally humorless alternate ending along with six minutes of deleted scenes. In one of 'em, Carl says "One more shot never killed anyone", and then it cuts to him stripping down and running into the ocean! Get it? He acts like having another drink couldn't possibly lead to anything embarrassing, and then in a completely unexpected reversal, he runs around naked! In public! Golly, it's hard to type while wiping a tear from my eye. This extra footage does answer one lingering question: why was Carl walking around with a framed Bruce Lee poster? All of that additional footage is letterboxed, non-anamorphic, and accompanied by optional audio commentary.
There are also the usual set of outtakes and a less-clever-than-it-sounds spoof trailer redrawing You, Me, and Dupree as a horror flick. The last of the extras is a scrapbook of Dupree's life with stuff like a ticket reading "Keep this coupon" and a note saying "I did!" There's a booger too 'cause boogers are gross and funny!!! A couple of videos are mixed in if you're feeling up to some menu-trawling. Universal incorporated some of this stuff into the menu design, livening up their usual generic template.
Conclusion: Shit sandwich.
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