Running Free with You, Me and Dupree
Okay, we need to remember it’s summer, and sometimes it is better to be in an air-conditioned theatre than sweltering on the beach or in the office. When it’s that kind of a day, this kind of movie – in the heat of a humid, overcast day — sits okay.
If you have paid full price and are expecting Shakespeare, or a movie that makes you think, this ain’t it.
You, Me and Dupree has its moments – most of them inhabited by the childlike, dippy, carefree character, Dupree, played by Owen Wilson – and when you are in them, they are cute and often funny. But afterwards you don’t really remember them.
The multi-talented Kate Hudson is wasted in this film, playing the newly-wed wife of Matt Dillon, and over-indulged daughter of Michael Douglas (finally playing an age-appropriate role as not only the father-in-law but the evil employer of the husband). Hudson has little to do other than cringe, whine and ultimately, succumb to the gentle and dopey ways of their unwelcome house guest, Dupree, her husband’s former best man, now a homeless adolescent trapped in man’s clothing and inhabiting (temporarily) his best friend’s house.
Typical shenanigans ensue with Dupree interrupting the newlyweds during intimate moments, providing the expected bathroom jokes and finding a slightly more creative way to almost wreck the house than most teenagers. This is a buddy movie, of sorts, with a kind of workaholic/daddy’s girl moral thrown in for good measure.
If you’re trapped in the heat, by all means cool off with this farcical romance. Two out of four stars. Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference. (Yes, we have everything, including the kitchen sink, in this one!) Don’t take grandma, or anyone under 15.
