You, Me and Dupree

Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Little Man is a more notably garish comedy than You, Me and Dupree, but that's because it jumps off a higher cliff. You, Me and Dupree doesn't risk failure, so it amounts to nothing. Its "houseguest who won't leave" scenario once sustained a 4-minute SNL skit, and was the thin premise for What About Bob? and Sinbad's Houseguest. Owen Wilson has an easygoing charm as the over-ripened unemployed slacker Dupree, who disrupts the domestic sanctity of friend Carl (Matt Dillon) and his wife Molly (Kate Hudson). Their resentment toward Dupree is blown out of proportion by Mike LeSieur's script, which never makes their irritability understandable. "Ever since you've been here my life has been falling apart," Carl lectures. But that's mostly been coincidental. Dupree is too ineffectual to cause much damage. When directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo do add a unique touch - like setting Dupree up on a date with a librarian, and never showing her face - it's without reason. The drive of the movie is never met: Dupree should inevitably loosen Carl and Molly from their uptight insolence. It's the kind of simple movie John Hughes could make poignant and distinctive. In the Russos' hands, it looks and behaves like a big-screen sitcom.