NMR: The Dilemma

I actually saw this in theaters back in January, but never got around to doing a review then, so I figured I would just do one now to mark its release on DVD/Blu-Ray. Given that it stars Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, this thing is seriously devoid of laughs. Instead of letting these guys be their natural, funny selves director Ron Howard explores some dark issues relating to fidelity and addiction. With a film like Parenthood, Howard was able to yield laughs out of the relatable events that the characters were involved in. Here, he's stuck in this limbo between realism and broad comedy and it never finds the right tone. For instance, amongst the scenes we see Vaughn struggling with finding a way to tell his friend that his wife (played by Winona Ryder) is cheating on him, we have these unnaturally bawdy scenes involving Queen Latifah. The most frustrating thing of all for me was that most of the dramatic tension could have easily been resolved had the characters just actually taken the time to talk with each other. By now you should know how much that irks a communication major. It's a cheap and lazy ploy to keep the story going. The likeable leads (which also include the engaging and sexy Jennifer Connelly) are able to keep the film from being utterly terrible, but they all deserve better material than what they are working with here. There's no dilemma here, you can take a pass on this movie. Rating: ** 1/2