You, Me and Dupree (2006)

A best man (Wilson) stays on as a houseguest with the newlyweds, much to the couple's annoyance.

Directors:

Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writer:

Michael LeSieur

Stars:

Kate Hudson, Owen Wilson, Matt Dillon

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Owen Wilson	...	Dupree
Kate Hudson	...	Molly
Matt Dillon	...	Carl
Michael Douglas	...	Mr. Thompson
Seth Rogen	...	Neil
Amanda Detmer	...	Annie
Ralph Ting	...	Toshi
Todd Stashwick	...	Tony
Bill Hader	...	Mark
Lance Armstrong	...	Self
Jason Winer	...	Eddie
Sidney S. Liufau	...	Paco (as Sidney Liufau)
Billy Gardell	...	Bartender Dave
Eli Vargas	...	Aaron
Houston Mack	...	Dougie (as Houston McCrillis)

Storyline

For newlyweds Carl and Molly Peterson, life can't get any sweeter as they begin anew to settle down into married life. With a nice house and established careers in tow, nothing seems to get in their way. However, Carl is about find out just how much friendship means when Dupree, his best friend has been displaced from his home and fired from his job because of attending their wedding. Taking his friend in, what Carl and Molly are about to experience is that the fine line between a few days and whatever else is after, can be a lot more than they bargained for. Especially when their friend overstays his welcome in far too many ways than he should.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to audrey hepburn | reference to lance armstrong | cycling accident | road cycling | newlyweds | 

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Taglines:

Two's company. Dupree's a crowd.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference

Did You Know?

Trivia

Directors the Russo brothers would later work with Michael Douglas again in Avengers: Endgame (2019).

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Goofs

During the dinner scene with the four characters, the bottle of wine keeps moving between shots.

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Quotes

Lance Armstrong: [Very last lines after the credits]
[Having just read Depree's book and breaking the forth wall]
Lance Armstrong: Lanceness Lance... ness? Lancennneeesss LanceNess

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Crazy Credits

(Spoiler) At the end of the credits, Lance Armstrong is shown reading Dupree's book and wondering aloud how to pronounce his "ness" name.

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Connections

Referenced in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Episode #7.126 (2009)

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Soundtracks

All Cause Of You
Written by Keith Slettedahl
Performed by The 88
Courtesy of EMK/Mootron
By Arrangement with Natural Energy Lab

User Reviews

Not really what I expected, but if you're a fan of Wilson it's mildly amusing

I'm a big fan of Owen Wilson when he's in the right genre. He has proved to be a considerably good talent in drama as well, but comedy is his real niche. The whole "Frat Pack" sub-genre that is popular right now is where he most belongs, and as such "You, Me and Dupree" offers what one would expect from a comedy starring Owen Wilson as a slacker who leeches off of people.

What I didn't expect from this comedy was its dark side. Matt Dillon's character turns pretty nasty and his relationship with wife Kate Hudson gets rough. Likewise his confrontational scenes with Michael Douglas seem to betray the lighter attitude of the scenes involving Dupree (Wilson). The movie has a few twists and turns that I didn't expect - when I saw the ads I figured it would be an OK-but-forgettable movie about a guy crashing in a newly-married couple's house, end of story: but there's actually more to the story here. It doesn't necessarily make it stand out (it's not a very good film) - but the movie moves away from Dupree being a pest and actually begins to focus on Dillon's growing anger towards his friend as he believes him to be developing a crush on his wife. The whole subplot with Douglas' character (playing the father of Hudson) becomes quite prominent in the film as well. This is where it really takes a turn for the worse.

Whereas for the first hour or so is fun and predictable in the vein of Wilson's other films, once it begins trying to develop a "showdown" of sorts between all its characters it gets to be too much. The ending sequence involving Wilson being chased by a Samoan security guard is way over-the-top and betrays the realistic roots of the movie.

I also didn't care much for Dillon's character. I could relate to his frustration but he almost seemed TOO realistic for this film. You know when critics complain in these movies about how clichéd the "nice guy" characters always are? Well Dillson isn't a nice guy in this movie - he's got a hot temper and loses his cool a bunch of times in the movie. Towards the end he's like a mad, violent alcoholic and I started to feel like Dupree should end up with his wife instead.

Overall the first hour of this movie is fun and entertaining and has its fair share of humorous segments - I laughed a lot when Dupree burns down a house and at some of the early jokes involving his interaction with old buddies - but the movie obviously realizes this isn't enough of a plot for a 90-minute feature and tries to develop other plot lines 3/4 of the way through, and that's when it gets tiresome. The ending ultimately left a bad taste in my mouth and felt tacky. It seemed like a last-minute ending that was filmed after poor test screenings. A relationship crisis involving Dupree is never even resolved in the movie - as if the crew totally forgot about it.

I guess I would have left the theater feeling more fulfilled if perhaps the film had continued as a lightweight "frat pack"-style comedy rather than trying to rise above other genre entries. I acknowledge the film's attempts at becoming "more" than just another comedy of this type - but they chose the wrong path and just made it worse. In this case it's an example of a shallow movie trying too hard to be something else.

I liked it, and I was entertained, but it's better left as a rental and only if you're a fan of the actors. (By the way, it's worth mentioning that apart from Wilson's hilarious performance, Kate Hudson really impressed me and had more of a realistic role than women do in most of these sorts of films. You can't slam "You, Me and Dupree" for not at least trying.)

Details

Official Sites:

Universal Pictures (us)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 July 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

You, Me and Dupree

Filming Locations:

Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$54,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,525,560, 16 July 2006

Gross USA:

$75,628,110

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$130,628,903

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Kaplan / Perrone Entertainment, MMCB Film Produktion 2004

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1