When Ronny (Vince Vaugn) sees his best friend's wife out with another man, he knows he has to act. He just doesn't know how. Amateur investigations and clumsy attempts to tell his friend the truth land him i a whole lot of mess.
Reviews
The New York Times
A. O. Scott
"...less a macho comedy than what you might call a bromantic melodrama... Ms. Ryder, playing the least sympathetic character with unflinching dignity and candor, is in many ways the reason “The Dilemma” works as well as it does. For his part Mr. Howard handles the transition from humor to heartbreak smoothly..."
13/01/2011
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Empire Magazine
Genevieve Harrison
"Hit-and-miss for Howard. The tone flits, sometimes uncomfortably, from Vaughn-fuelled laugh-fest to relationship drama, but it's a winner compared to many of the clunkly comedies out there."
21/01/2011
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The Los Angeles Times
Betsy Sharkey
"While he hits most of the darker notes, the filmmaker proves too indulgent with the lighter riffs, when a little restraint would have made for a better film."
14/01/2011
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The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
"Pious, intense and often hectoringly implausible..."
21/01/2011
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The Guardian
Cath Clarke
"The unknowability of other peoples' relationships is a decent jump-off for grown-up comedy, but this collapses into comic mayhem, falling-out-of-trees slapstick, snore-bore misunderstandings and a sizeable distance between laughs."
20/01/2011
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The Daily Telegraph
(Unknown)
"A suspenseless marathon of misguided male loyalty. Nothing’s funny. Nothing’s real."
20/01/2011
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Time Out
Ben Walters
"It’s basically a chick flick for guys – a picture about emotions, friendships, loyalty and growth in which the men are the prime movers – which is a pretty novel approach for a mainstream studio picture. Any credit for this move, however, is outweighed by the film’s nervy tone and tedious politics: it lacks faith in its story, characters and audience."
20/01/2011
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The Times
Kate Muir
"Obviously the script was workshopped at a men-only pool bar."
20/01/2011
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Total Film
Matthew Leyland
"Hamstring by its own dilemma – whether to make us laugh or cry – and guilty of squandering a decent cast, Howard’s film is as heavy-going as a messy divorce."
20/01/2011
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Variety
Justin Chang
"The Dilemma is not a particularly funny movie. Indeed, the true dilemma of this misguided seriocomedy lies in the filmmakers' confusion as to whether they're making a side-splitting bromance (nope) or an unsparing, warts-and-all look at screwed-up relationships (sort of)."
11/01/2011
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The Independent on Sunday
Nicholas Barber
"But the real dilemma apparent in Ron Howard's tiresome film is whether it should be a feel-good vehicle for Vaughn and Kevin James's matey banter, or a sour psychodrama about the fury of a woman scorned. Weird."
23/01/2011
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
"The worst of both worlds: a comedy without laughs, and a drama without tension. "
21/01/2011
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The Sunday Times
Edward Porter
"...gooey and tedious...
"
23/01/2011
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The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
"Sabotaged by a bungling script and an astonishingly obnoxious performance by his leading man (this is the hapless Vaughn’s fourth turkey in a row, following Fred Claus, Four Christmases and Couples Retreat), Howard, who once won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, comes across as a clueless amateur."
21/01/2011
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The Observer
Philip French
"Rather less fun than a badly executed coronary bypass."
23/01/2011
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