"The Dilemma"

David and I were invited to see a sneak preview of “The Dilemma” (rated PG-13, opening next Friday, January 14^th) a few weeks ago. We went into it with some apprehension; with Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Queen Latifah and Channing Tatum we were unsure which direction the movie would go.

The premise: Vince Vaughn’s character finds out that his best friend’s wife (Ryder) is having an affair with Channing Tatum’s character. We were worried – Vaughn’s roles tend to either be very endearing or completely off-the-charts-inappropriate. To say we were pleasantly surprised with “The Dilemma” is a bit of an understatement.

Vaughn’s character goes through the dilemma of whether he should tell his best friend, James, that he knows his wife is having an affair. He makes some predictable choices, there are some typically uncomfortable moments, but on the whole, we laughed throughout the whole film. Channing Tatum is hiliarious, in a break from his typical roles. Queen Latifah goes a little over-the-top, but does have some amusing moments too. There was brief nudity (Tatum’s backside), some drug referencing, and a little language, but Director Ron Howard also added some very surprising and impressive depth to Vaughn that almost made me tear up. There are also some realistic and challenging developments between Vaughn’s character and his girlfriend, played by Connelly.

In the end, though there were some predictable twists and choices, “The Dilemma” was a slapstick comedy with heart. David and I walked away discussing for the rest of the night how amazed we wereby how much humor and depth this film ended up containing. I would give it 4.5 stars, and definitely recommend seeing it when it releases in theaters next week. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!