Joel's Review: 'Dupree' Delivers an Unwelcome Guest

July 13, 2006 — -- There are two great things about "You, Me and Dupree": the title and the cast. Owen Wilson is one of the newest name-above-the-title comedy stars, and one of the funniest people making movies today. He's Dupree.

The You and Me of the title are Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson, newlyweds who take in best friend Dupree, who won't leave. It's a familiar premise. See "The Man Who Came to Dinner," maybe, instead.

The situations in this sitcom never get as funny as they should. A scene about a backed-up toilet has the worst punch lines I've ever heard in any work anyone has gotten paid for. Period. And the screenplay is almost never believable.

Examples: Dupree takes over their house. They don't ask him to leave. He has a party for a dozen guys. And hookers. They don't ask him to leave.

He steps out of Dillon and Hudson's house with nothing but two pillows to cover his nakedness, and they don't ask him to leave. He sets their house on fire, and they still don't ask him to leave.

What works is Owen Wilson's wide-open, heart-on-my-sleeve vulnerability, with a goofy tic or two. He somehow makes what could be annoying not annoying, but lovable. Not to mention hysterical. And finally, when he does leave, you just know he'll be welcomed back. Grade: C+