Movie Review: You, Me and Dupree
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What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that this movie is full of sexual
references and quick cuts away from naked body parts to warrant
the PG-13 rating... barely. There are verbal and visual
references to masturbation, vasectomies (with a brochure
diagramming the procedure), a porn video collection,
emasculation, and a librarian at an elementary school who's
apparently a "slut." We see a husband's paranoid fantasy about
his wife (in a teeny bikini) making out with his best friend.
The language includes one f-word plus other profanities, as
well as the derogatory use of "homo." Characters smoke cigars
and do a lot of social drinking (on occasion to the point of
drunkenness), and one worries that he might "smell like weed"
(you don't see him smoke). Adult male characters are rude,
competitive, and juvenile.
Families can discuss "buddy comedies." How many other movies can you think of that feature juvenile male friendships? What makes this formula successful? Do you actually like these guys? What kind of values and stereotypes do these movies promote?
Common Sense Media Review
Obnoxious and monotonous, YOU, ME AND DUPREE is yet another
movie making fun of immature men and the women who put up with
them. Following the path laid down by the R-rated hits,
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
and
Wedding Crashers
, this movie uses sexual activity and wild physical
violence (as well as some crude language) to showcase Dupree's
(
Owen
Wilson) disruptiveness.
Feeling left out when his best friend Carl ( Matt Dillon) marries the beautiful and sensible elementary school teacher Molly ( Kate Hudson), Dupree moves in, "for a week at the most." He sleeps in the nude on their couch, eats their food, leaves messes, and generally expects the newlyweds to play his parents, while he hangs out with the neighborhood kids and doesn't try very hard to get a job.
Painfully formulaic, the movie sets up ludicrous non-options for Molly and Carl, as they head toward conflict that will be resolved by the "intuitive" Dupree (this is one of those movies where, if only the couple would have one honest conversation within the first half-hour, the rest of it would be unnecessary). While Molly resents Dupree's childishness (and the fact that Carl behaves badly around him), she soon comes to see him as a sensitive spirit in need of looking after. By the same token, Carl is tired of Dupree's unreliability, but admires his "free spirit." Dupree looks blissful compared to his married friends, who feel hemmed in and humiliated; Neil's (Seth Rogen) wife yells at him from off-screen and has him on a curfew.
Because the movie needs to idealize Molly (else why would Carl give up Dupree for her?), it sets up her father, Mr. Thompson (Michael Douglas) as Carl's primary adversary. Working for Thompson's real estate development company, Carl feels belittled and emasculated, especially when the father-in-law inexplicably suggests he get a vasectomy, after he's extolled the virtues of creating a "legacy" just a few scenes earlier. Such lack of logic typifies the film, as Molly comes to care for Dupree and Dupree provides earnest life lessons for Carl.
In the end, You, Me and Dupree brings in the inevitable tinkly piano music and has Dupree pronounce the moral about "believing in yourself," first for Molly's young students, and then for Carl, drunk and depressed in a bar. While it might seem sweet, it also feels cynical.
Families who like this movie might like similarly themed movies, such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (with Hudson) or Failure to Launch . Or you might want to see a smarter version of the two men and a woman relationship, The Philadelphia Story .
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
