"Dinner for Schmucks" and the Love-It-or-Hate-It Movie

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The highly anticipated Dinner for Schmucks comes out today (July 30), and fans of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd are eagerly salivating.

The screwball comedy is about Tim (Rudd) trying to move up the ladder at his job by bringing Barry (Carell) the "schmuck" to a special dinner his bosses throw annually to make fun of others. The reviews have been positive so far, but some critics feel it's a love-it-or-hate-it kind of movie. This got us thinking about other cult movies that have a strong following but also a large group of haters...

The Royal Tenenbaums - This quirky comedy focuses on a family that is eccentric, to say the least.  The three grown children (Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson) come home when their father (Gene Hackman) announces he has a terminal illness. The movie contains an abundance of dark humor, although some viewers found it simply dark, minus the humor. The style in which the movie is shot is similar to that of another unique but divisive comedy, "Arrested Development".

Napoleon Dynamite - The indie comedy catapulted Jon Heder to instant fame after mainstream audiences got wind of his hilarious portrayal of the awkward and unpopular Napoleon. The movie introduced ligers into the world and turned "Gosh!" into a catchphrase. Napoleon's struggle to fit in at school and deal with his bizarre family resonated with a lot of viewers. Some people loved the dry humor, but others didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Considered one of the most critically-acclaimed films of the 2000s, this is not your typical romantic comedy. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet star as a couple who have erased each other from their memories, but they just can't leave each other behind. The nonlinear structure and sci-fi aspects of the movie were popular with some audiences, but it was just too trippy for others.

The Village - The inhabitants of an isolated village are terrified of the monsters that reside in the nearby forest. They have a pact  that the monsters will leave the villagers alone, but the townspeople are afraid that the truce has come to an end. Some audiences hated the ending; the spooky M. Night Shyamalan film sparked a worldwide debate over whether the movie was brilliant or just plain weird.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 - The Bride (Uma Thurman) goes on a bloody rampage after she wakes up from a coma and discovers that her unborn baby has been killed and her assassination team has betrayed her. The epic revenge drama, directed by Quentin Tarantino, made an enormous amount of money, but some viewers thought it was too gory and didn't approve of audiences cheering on a woman on a killing spree.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - This Michael Moore documentary showed the world his personal view on what happened after September 11, while simultaneously accusing the Bush administration of using the tragedy to wage war on Afghanistan and Iraq. Moore's attack on Bush and his supporters is as love-it-or-hate-it as you can get; liberals agreed with it and conservatives were just mad.
 
 
So what have we learned here today? No matter how much critical praise a movie might get, there will always be people who can't stand it and think it's the worst movie ever made. C'est l'art!
 

- Jessica Ross, YH Staff