During Hollywood’s “golden age” directors had to be able to jump from genre to genre. Someone like Howard Hawks could go from screwball comedy to western to mystery. These days most directors like to work in one genre. Ron Howard is the rare exception. He started out with comedies like NIGHT SHIFT and SPLASH then tried fantasy ( WILLOW ), thrillers ( RANSOM and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon stories), and had great success with historical docudramas ( APOLLO 13, FROST/NIXON). Now Howard has returned to comedy after more than a decade with THE DILEMMA. This time the film’s laughs have a serious theme at it’s center.
At the heart of THE DILEMMA is the friendship of two old college buddies Ronny ( Vince Vaughn ) and Nick ( Kevin James ) who are business partners at an auto design firm in Chicago. Ronny’s the fast talking salesman while Nick is the tech wizard. After landing an interview with one of the big auto makers, the guys go out celebrating with their gals. Nick has been married for several years to Geneva ( Winona Ryder ), while confirmed bachelor Ronny has been dating Beth ( Jennifer Connelly ), a chef at a popular restaurant. After the meeting with the auto big wigs in Detroit goes well ( they’re going to make electric cars sound like classic hot rod engines?! ), Ronny decides that it’s time to propose to Beth. While scoping out the Botanical Gardens as a possible engagement site, Ronny spots Nick’s wife Geneva making out with a young tattooed stud ( Channing Tatum ). This is the dilemma that the film’s tile refers. Should he just tell his pal and plunge him into misery ( and possibly derail their business venture )? Maybe Ronny should confront Geneva and convince her to end the affair. Or perhaps Ronny should just keep quiet and say nothing. What should he do? Many film goers may ask, “What would I do?”.
Howard does his best trying to balance the dramatic elements with the broad comic scenes, but he’s thwarted by a script that has the characters acting improbably-to use a phrase coined by Siskel and Ebert, ” the idiot plot”. Why does Ronny refuse to share his plight with Beth? Does he think he can spy on Geneva while driving around in his classic 1960’s muscle car? After a disturbingly bloody and violent confrontation with Zip (?!), Geneva’s boy-toy, why does Ronny stick around to taunt him? And why does Ronny return to Zip’s pad to retrieve his camera? The actors are giving it heir best effort to make this material work. Vaughn is doing his motor-mouth wiseacre , but usually his characters are a lot smarter, as in DODGEBALL and WEDDING CRASHERS. You just wants to grab him by the shoulders, shake him, and yell, “C’mon!! You’re smarter than this!!”. James doesn’t get to utilize his great comic timing and superb skills in physical comedy ( beside an awkward dance scene with Vaughn ). In many scenes he’s Vaughn’s schlubby straight man. The lovely Connelly is underused in basically the exasperated, but understanding girlfriend role. Ryder has the more complex part. She almost gets some sympathy going as she explains her marital frustrations, but suddenly turns into a vindictive blackmailing harpy. She’d not helped by the decision to give her some severe, unflattering make-up, perhaps to emphasize her as the bad girl in comparison to Connelly’s good girl. Channing fulfills his duty as eye candy, but is not allowed to bring any humanity or humor to his role. Queen Latifah tries to brings some energy to the poorly written character of the lady auto exec who’s cheering the boys on. I was embarrassed by some of the dialogue she’s saddled with ( “lady-wood”?! Twice?!).Chicago looks great and there are some big laughs in the film, but they’re derailed by too many scenes that drag on far too long and don’t make much sense. The tacked-on upbeat ending doesn’t help things. Ron Howard’s one of our most talented and versatile directors. I hope that the next time he ventures into the comedy genre he can find a more worthy project.
Overall Rating: Three Stars out of Five
