Dubious Life Lessons From ‘The Dilemma’ and ‘No Strings Attached’
Two Hollywood comedies new this month to home video roll up their sleeves to tackle big questions of responsibility and commitment. Though neither is particularly funny, The Dilemma and No Strings Attached make an intriguing double feature. Admirably, these films acknowledge the work that goes into maintaining relationships, both romantic and platonic. But, perhaps predictably, they end up delivering mixed messages where they intend to impart rock-solid life lessons.
For its part, the comedy No Strings Attached, written by Elizabeth Meriwether and directed by Ivan Reitman, asks whether there can be such a thing as sex without some form of deeper attachment
In The Dilemma, directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard from a script by Allan Loeb, an ostensibly smooth-talking Chicagoan, Ronny Valentine (Vince Vaughn), wrestles with how to tell his best friend and business partner (in an auto design firm) that his wife is cheating on him. Fearing that he will add to the pressure on Nick (Kevin James), nursing an ulcer as a work deadline looms, Ronny holds off on telling him, compounding the problem. Nick’s wife (Winona Ryder) continues to rendezvous with a tattooed younger man named Zip (Channing Tatum); Ronny sustains many injuries while executing his bizarrely roundabout schemes to expose the truth.