Translated material
You won't get guests
“He, Me and His Friends” on Moscow screens
The film by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo quickly reminds us that the word “friendship” can be interpreted in different ways. This is not only “the mutual affection of two or more people, their close connection” - when it comes to Randy Dupree and his “mutual affections,” you can’t help but remember that this wonderful word was once used to describe both processed cheese and a chainsaw. Dupree (Owen Wilson) is Carl Petersen's (Matt Dillon) best friend and best man at Carl and Molly's (Kate Hudson) recent wedding. Immediately after the wedding, the newlyweds went on a trip, and upon returning to their native land, they discovered that the best man, meanwhile, had managed to lose absolutely everything - his job, his car, the roof over his head - and all that was left at his disposal were simple personal belongings and a stuffed elk head, with which he comes to the house of his friends. And settles down in the family nest seriously and for a long time. He overwrites the answering machine, takes questionable-looking girlfriends to his house, throws dirty socks everywhere and generally behaves quite disgustingly and impudently, not only towards the self-occupied living space, but also towards the Petersens themselves, whom he never tires of calling his friends. It is not difficult, however, to guess that when the limit of everyday rudeness is finally exhausted, and the owner’s family is under the threat of final and irrevocable collapse, all the best feelings will awaken in Dupri, and he will truly turn out to be a wonderful comrade.One could, if desired, come to terms with some very elementary moral of the film: in such films everything is almost always clear from the very beginning (although there are examples of a much more entertaining approach to the matter - such as, for example, the ending looked unexpected and spectacular in its time Soviet comedy film "Guardian", in which the main characters were heading full speed towards re-education, and the character of Georgy Vitsin, right before the credits, suddenly decided not to go with everyone else to a new honest life and disappeared into obscurity). But God be with him, with the plot, if the textbook situation with the annoying guest, memorable from Herluf Bidstrup’s cartoons, was colored with truly funny gags. Unfortunately, the humor here does not go beyond Dupree's nightly visit to the toilet in the newlyweds' bedroom after a good portion of spicy chicken wings or a sofa burned in a destructive frenzy. It seems that any viewer who has at least once had to host unsettled friends (or live with friends themselves) can remember much more original, funny and very real stories of living together. Here it seems that the brother directors simply automatically stuffed their film with dubious humor so that it would certainly be mistaken for a comedy. Which, in essence, he is not entirely. This is more of a psychological melodrama, quite instructive and at times boring. And even the excellent cast (besides the listed first-rate actors, who are almost always at least pleasant to watch, Michael Douglas is also involved in the role of Molly’s father and Karl’s boss) does not help the matter much. In essence, apart from the initial situation, nothing really has been invented here. And first of all, Dupree himself, on whom there was all hope. Typically, characters of this kind (I remember, for example, Bill Murray in the luxurious comedy “What About Bob?”) are not so much heroes as such, but rather some indicators, a litmus test on which other characters are tested - they seem to look at themselves on the other hand, using the example of unlucky guests, they discover hitherto undeveloped character traits and generally change. There is nothing like that here. It’s just that an ill-mannered and noisy idiot entered the house for a while, ruined a couple of weeks of life, and then reformed. Thanks everyone, everyone is free.
CAPTION: Randy Dupree (Owen Wilson) arrives to visit the Petersen family. It would be better if only one elk came to them