The Dilemma

How do you tell your best friend that his wife is cheating on him? If you're Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn) in The Dilemma, you don't. Instead, you eke out the secret for as long as possible, weaving an increasingly absurd web of deceit and farce.

Best buds and partners in an auto design company, Ronny and Nick (Kevin James), are about to unleash their big idea - an electric car with muscle (current models, as Ronny delicately puts it, are "gay"). With a vital pitch at Chrysler coming up, nothing can get in the way of their dream. Nothing, you hear? That is, until a certain dilemma rears its ugly head.

Ronny espies Nick's wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder), sucking the face off a tattooed hunk in the steamy midst of a tropical garden. But does he inform Nick that his wife's getting exotic extras just days before the pitch?

In fairness, Ronny initially does the right thing. Alas, his decision to tell all leads to one of those "I'm far too busy to listen to the very important thing you want to tell me" skits, which will have you yanking out your hair in frustration and possibly that of the person sat next to you, too.

Taking the law of love into his own hands, Ronny turns private dick, trailing Geneva in order to capture saucy snapshots of her infidelity.

Needless to say, his clandestine escapades open up a Pandora's box, and those close to him, including girlfriend Beth (Jennifer Connelly) begin to think it's Ronny who has the problem.

Adultery, by its very nature, is an adult subject, yet so often The Dilemma deflects into childish slapstick; Ronny gets a gross-out rash from poisonous plants and kills a fish with a guitar, while he and Nick jig about on occasion like a couple of leathery, blimped-out frat kids. For a film with its four leads around the age of 40, The Dilemma is distinctly puerile.

Neither does it help that Kevin James' Nick is a largely unlovable man: a slobby, splenetic oaf obsessed with making engines growl and who, it transpires, is partial to the odd Thai massage-parlor happy ending. Is it any wonder the loser is being cuckolded?

Credit where credit's due; at least Geneva isn't painted as an out-and-out bitch; yes, she's got that glint of madness in her eyes, and can certainly do psycho when she wants to (tears on cue as she rehearses fibbing to hubby, for example). But as Ronny delves deeper into the couple's life, he realizes things are not so black-and-white, and the adulteress escapes with at least some dignity intact.

Geneva's toyboy Zip (Channing Tatum) provides The Dilemma's meatiest laughs; a pseudo-schizo mix of weapon-wielding lunatic and blubbing, pet fish-mourning baby. But what exactly Queen Latifah is up to as a hyperbolic petrolhead in heat is anyone's guess. That said, she does deliver the only genius line of the film; one concerning Deep Throat and All the President's Men.

The Dilemma wraps up by spuriously introducing an ex-gambling habit of Ronny's, everyone "hilariously" assuming this is the real issue at hand. The final revelations scene in which both couples, their families and Zip, along with a horrendously clichéd counselor, sit in a circle and spill truths, in no way substantiates the madness that has gone before.

Despite one or two comical episodes, The Dilemma wavers too unsurely between immature goof-off and a sincere commentary on marriage and honesty. As it probably won't give you what you want from a film, you might consider going behind its back and seeing something else.

Will Noble can be reached at
wnoble@praguepost.com