Review: The Dilemma

It's irritating to me that Ron Howard is selling The Dilemma out to be a whacky, buddy comedy because, truth be told, it is more than that.

The Dilemma explores the realms of the unspoken love that exists between two straight guys: Vince Vaughn is thoroughly likeable as a grown up version of his usual character who discovers that his best friend's wife is cheating on him. Kevin James works well with Vaughn as that particular best friend.

One thing that makes this movie stick out from others of its kind are its four leads. Vince Vaugh and Kevin James both do a good job at making their characters likeable and fun to watch. Winona Ryder and Jennifer Connelly are believable as these friends' two wives. These four actors all give good preformances that click well together and transcend this movie beyond any hopeless, deep comedy.

As a comedy, The Dilemma works pretty well. Vaugh and James are two of the funniest guys around who definitely know how to get the laughs and they do; there are a lot to be had here, even with the help of the supporting cast. Sadly, the script wasn't developed to its full potential and a lot of the jokes fall flat.

As for the deep part, this film asks "What does it mean to know somebody?" and questions the standard of our relationships with people. Unfortunately, it tries aswering all these questions and eventually everything starts falling apart quickly as everybody, including Connelly's character, starts coming clean about some hidden secret and it starts losing touch with reality which then drags on for far too long.

So add it all up and Ron Howard's latest is definitely not his greatest. Still, The Dilemma is leaps and bounds more prodound than other whacky, buddy films. It tries diving deep into the world of human relations with actors who are versatile enough to do it, and succeeds for a while, but the underdeveloped script doesn't allow everything to line up the way I think the filmmakers intended.