Steve Carell is about to take a big gamble- leaving the successful TV series ‘The Office’ to concentrate on movies. It’s a rocky path, with some making it to the highest peaks of stardom (George Clooney), and some falling away (anyone remember Kelsey Grammer?). So what can we learn from his latest, a remake of French farce ‘Les Dinner de Cons’?

Tim (Paul Rudd) is a financial executive, desperate to step over his competitors and join the big boys one floor up in senior management. He manages to impress his boss, who invites Tim to his annual ‘dinner for winners’, which in reality is a cruel party where guests bring an idiot along for the rest of the party to make fun of. Tim thinks he has found his idiot when he runs over Barry (Steve Carell), an impressionable, socially awkward man whose life’s passion is stuffing and posing dead mice. As Tim gets to know Barry, he increasingly feels bad for opening him up to ridicule, and as the dinner approaches he must decide exactly how much this promotion is worth to him.

Director Jay Roach has brought some awkward situations to the big screen, having directed both ‘Meet The Parents’ and its sequel. The story is rather unfaithful to the original, basically just taking the concept and moving in it’s own direction- that direction being slapstick, playground humour that hits more than it misses, but it’s always giggles rather than full belly laughs. You know where it’s going throughout, and bar some superb support there are few surprises.

The two leads are likeable, with Carell going into full wackiness mode, playing Barry like a geekier version of his character from ‘Anchorman’. Rudd is the straight man once again, but he manages some funny exchanges with Carell. The highlights are the support actors, particularly Jermaine Clement as a sexually volatile artist, and Zach Galifianakis as a ‘mind control’ expert.

Whilst it’s certainly a movie than brings a lot of laughs, the problem is you can see them coming a million miles away, which means when you are not being blindsided by low-brow humour what’s left is a rather slight story with not much of a message to take home. Nonetheless, it does its job, and like a crass, extended sketch show, makes you laugh and leaves without too much of an impression.

Dinner For Schmucks is out on September 3.