I’ll come right out and say it. I don’t see what the big deal is with actor Owen Wilson. Sure he was funny in Wedding Crashers, but he always seems to play that super annoying character in his films that you just want to hate, but seemingly can’t sometimes feel sorry for. Such is the case in his recent 2006 affair with Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon entitled You, Me and Dupree.
Carl (Matt Dillon) and Molly (Kate Hudson) have just gotten married in the beautiful Hawaii islands. Dupree (Owen Wilso…) is Carl’s best friend and best man at the wedding. Life for the newlyweds is running smoothly until Carl learns that Dupree has been fired from his previous job for taking the week off to attend Carl’s wedding without informing his boss. Now Dupree is homeless and living on the street with no job. Naturally, as any best friend would do, Carl invites Dupree into his home for a few days in hopes that he’ll get back on his feet. Antics after antics result in Carl and Molly realizing that their genuine hospitality toward Dupree may have been overly nice. As the film’s tagline goes ‘Two’s company, but Dupree’s a crowd.’
The parts of You, Me and Dupree that work are the moments where Carl is torn between his new wife and his best friend. Take for instance early in the film where in a literally span of 15 seconds, Carl is torn on deciding if it was fine that Dupree changed the answering machine and ordered HBO. The methods in which Dillon and Hudson act in the film made me wonder if I was actually watching a real-life family. Everything was sweet, sincere and honest. Then you have Dupree. As I mentioned above, Dupree is so moronic that you want to hate him. He tends to spoil any type a good time that Carl and Molly have. Dupree, essentially, is like a big kid. He obviously doesn’t want to work, doesn’t care about his life, and sees no problem in calling Carl while he’s speaking to his boss (played by Michael Douglas) about an overflowing toilet. He has no common sense. Despite these moments, there are scenes where you can’t help but feel for Dupree. Even though he acts like a big kid, you tend to see that genuine, honest attempt to better his life.
It will be nothing of a shock to anyone to learn that Dupree does make something of himself while Carl and Molly do patch things up. You, Me and Dupree does nothing to advance the comedy scene, but it works overall as a film. Despite wanting to hate Dupree, he just has this quality that makes you feel bad for him. Carl and Molly play a couple that deals with problem in such a manner you may wonder if it’s more real-life than fiction. Despite a majority of the laughs being far and few between, You, Me and Dupree has that sincere quality that makes it work. Give it a rental and see for yourself.
Video
Presented in a 1080p, VC-1 Encoded, 1:85:1 widescreen aspect ratio, You, Me and Dupree benefits from being a brand new title. Also add in the fact that Universal put this on a HD-30 dual layer disc, and you have yourself a fine, if not overly boasting, transfer.
As I mentioned, with this film being less than 6 months old, the print is in pristine condition resulting in a sharp, clear transfer. Color usage was vivid, bright and vibrant resulting in many sequences having a natural feel to them. There was a bit of grain in some of the darker sequences along with a bit of edge enhancement during the outdoor sequence with Molly’s father and Carl. Not the first or second disc you’ll pull out for demo, but You, Me and Dupree gets the job done.
Audio
Arriving with the standard Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 available in either English, French or Spanish, a film of this nature doesn’t really have many sequences that cry out booming audio.
Dialogue, as per the typical comedy, is perfect with no real instance of the need to change the volume. Sound design, while lacking that real oomph, is pretty dull with very few sequences where we have any notice of discrete audio. I suppose one can’t really expect a lot of detail here with a comedy, but it would have been nice if we could have heard a bit more from the surrounds instead of the bland traffic.
The score by Theodore Shapiro, while mostly aimed at the front channel, was mixed perfectly as it complemented the dialogue being spoken. Dynamic Range was suited fine as well with low bass and exceptionally clean highs. This audio track will never once blow you away, but it does a more than serviceable job.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary with Directors Anthony and Joe Russo: Here the two brothers speak about the concept of the film seemingly praising it as the second coming of comedy. Wake up guys. The film was good, but nothing fantastic. Get over yourselves. They give us a bit of information on how it was difficult to find the perfect cast members.
- Audio Commentary with Producer Scott Stuber and Screenwriter Michael Le Sieur: I’ll say this right away. Unless you’re the biggest fan of this film, you won’t be watching both of these commentary tracks. There was numerous instances where the two commentaries could have easily been combined, but weren’t. Anyhow, the two participants speak on the casting (again what the first commentary spoke about) and a few of the tidbits on the behind the scenes action.
- Deleted Scenes: Here we get eight different scenes that, like most deleted scenes, play as extensions to existing scenes instead of being deleted. The two Russo brothers speak to us on one of the deleted scenes instead of all eight, which was odd. I guess they were too busy praising themselves to sit down for the other seven.
- Spoof Trailer
- Outtakes: Four minutes of various outtakes, most of which aren’t funny, are shown.
- Dupree’s Memoirs: Playing like a poster book, we get to see a few still shots of props from Dupree’s life including the moose. Diving a bit further into it, viewers will get to access various one to two minute making of features with a few moments of cast/director sequences.
HD DVD Exclusives
- U-Control: Universal continues offering U-Control on their releases with this title marking the fifth offering. This time around we get a ‘Picture in Picture’ option with cast interviews and some behind-the-scenes footage. Also including was ‘Production Photographs’ that gives us a bunch of still photos similar to The Break-Up. While this material isn’t amazingly great, it’s definitely a pleasure to see Universal giving us some HD exclusives.
Final Thoughts
You, Me and Dupree has a sincere enough story to make the film work. The including transfer was just fine while the audio did a serviceable job with the material at hand. The including features were kind of on the dull side with nothing groundbreaking. Again with the U-Control HD feature not doing anything to advance the format, it was still nice to see Universal include the interactive feature. Give this one a rental one Saturday if you’re looking for a fun film to watch.
Special Features List
- U-Control
- Audio Commentary with Directors Anthony and Joe Russo
- Audio Commentary with Producer Scott Stuber and Screenwriter Michael Le Sieur
- Deleted Scenes
- Spoof Trailer
- Outtakes
- Dupree’s Memoirs
