You, Me And Dupree

Personality movies tend to be as shallow as the star. Owen Wilson hasn't had time to establish himself as anything more than a yellow mop of hair, good teeth, wide smile and younger brother charm. As a result You, Me And Dupree is a knock-knock-anyone-there-McFly rom-com that has the retention span of a tiddly wink.

Carl (Matt Dillon) and Molly (Kate Hudson) love each other. He works in a lowly position in her dad's property business and she works as a teacher in a primary school. Her dad (Michael Douglas) is dismissive of Carl, because no one is good enough for his baby. Carl's best friend is Dupree (Wilson), a Peter Pan figure, who can't hold down jobs, but is fun to be with.

After the wedding, Dupree moves in "for a couple of days", because he has nowhere else to go while looking for work. The two days stretch into weeks, every sort of calamity occurs, including burning down the living room, and Dupree remains unemployed. He bonds with the kids in the street, while Carl is becoming increasingly tied to the office, where Molly's dad is giving him a hard time. Molly, meanwhile, is warming to Dupree, as she cools to Carl. The classic menage-a-trois? Nothing as sexy, sadly. This is Hollywood, where everything turns to slush.

There is so little to recommend this film that the question remains - why? A good cast, coupled with an expensive marketing campaign, might shake the money tree. Word of mouth remains zipped and only ardent Owen fans will buy the popcorn. He does what he does, as he has done so many times before, and there are no surprises. Charm is like butter. It melts criticism.

Hudson is looking even more beautiful than in Almost Famous. She doesn't have a huge amount to do because this is a running-on-empty script that these actors can perform in their sleep. Dillon is too old for Carl, which is an odd thing to say, but when you remember him in Crash and then watch him being humiliated by Douglas here, it feels so very wrong. Douglas, on the other hand, is having a ball. He's not the star. He has permission to misbehave.

American comedies are going through a bad patch. Wit is in short supply. Wilson has style, even if tousled and irresponsible. What he needs is a vehicle. This battered old Ford, patched up to look 21st century sleek, won't get him to the end of the road.