SYNOPSIS: Vince Vaughn and Kevin James headline an all-star comedy from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer about a man who finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do. Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah join them in The Dilemma, a story of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps. Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin. Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company. With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable. But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers. As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own. Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend. 

REVIEW: What do you do? What a predicament! You are stuck between a rock and a hard place. This movie is appropriately titled, no doubt. It is a fine line to walk when dealing with love and relationships of your own, much more someone else’s. This film paints a contemporary picture of love, relationships, friendships, unfaithfulness, insecurities, and mistrust and it does it well. The dilemma is the fact that how do you confront a situation like this between a husband and wife when the husband is your best friend, in this case. There is a saying in Spanish, “entre marido y mujer no se debe meter”, which means you shouldn’t get between a husband and wife. Or as Geneva (Winona Ryder) candidly tells Ronny (Vince Vaughn), “you don’t know what goes on behind the curtains” and basically to “stay out of my marriage”. I’m paraphrasing but that pretty much sums it up, which adds to Ronny’s dilemma. Ronny is torn to say the least, and literally beat up about it. Vince does an excellent job of making this movie laugh strongly out loud funny but at the same time keeping the drama of the predicament intact. This actually makes the movie more interesting and gives it more depth. It’s like a comedy with a bonus. Others have tried but this one succeeds. I have a feeling that the Director of this picture (Ron Howard) has something to do with it.

Vince, as usual, steals the show. His quick wit and line delivery sparks up the big screen. Kevin James plays Nick, Ronny’s best friend, and he was good but I’ve seen him do better. I have yet to see him do a role better than what he did in Hitch. So how about their respective ladies you ask? Jennifer Connelly plays Ronny’s main squeeze, Beth. She looks incredible in this film and as usual for her, she nails her share of the drama aspects of the movie. Winona is the unfaithful one, Nick’s wife Geneva, and she plays the deviousness of her character very well. The two performances that will catch you off guard are done by Channing Tatum as Zip, the accomplice to the unfaithfulness, and Queen Latifah as Susan, a potential business partner to the buddies. You will see both of them in a different light as they play these off beat characters. They give a nice contribution to the comedy of this film. Another major contributor is the Director. This could have easily been just another cookie cutter rom-com with a typical storyline and overused humor with some big names on the poster. I believe that by putting it in Ron’s hands, this is a much more quality production. The storyline is a little more complex than you might imagine, with some twists and decent sub-plots. This movie can make you cry from laughing so hard (I did) as well as from emotional moments. Overall, it did not let me down.