To score a promotion, a financial analyst (Paul Rudd) must bring a suitable guest to the titular meal organized by his boss (Bruce Greenwood) as a competition to see which corporate hotshot can produce the most amusing idiot as a target for secret ridicule, so his accidental meeting with a bizarrely naive and nerdy IRS agent (Steve Carell) seems like a godsend until his victim’s well-intentioned bumbling begins to ruin both his career and his relationship with his live-in girlfriend (Stephanie Szostak). Though its underlying message is one of sensitivity and respect, director Jay Roach’s comedy, adapted from Francis Veber’s 1998 French feature “Le Diner de Cons,” showcases numerous wayward riffs on topics such as adultery, casual sex and venereal disease.
Watch out for: Shadowy rear and partial nudity, cohabitation, much sexual and brief irreverent humor, a couple of uses of profanity, at least one use of the F-word, six crude terms.
Rated: L; MPAA: PG-13
