Product Details

• Actors: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James
• Directors: Ron Howard
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Universal Pictures
• DVD Release Date: May 3, 2011
• Run Time: 112 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003Y5H4ZW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,754 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Dilemma" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Director Ron Howard (Splash) returns to his comedy roots with The Dilemma, a deft screwball drama-comedy with a decidedly modern spin. Costars Vince Vaughn (Ronny) and Kevin James (Nick) manage to be funny as well as poignant--and their "bromance" is one of the most touching and believable relationships on the big screen. The supporting cast is top-notch too. Jennifer Connelly, effortlessly lovely and graceful, plays Beth, Ronny's girlfriend. Winona Ryder, who makes a welcome return to film, plays Nick's wife, Geneva. "The dilemma" of the title occurs when Ronny sees Geneva with another man. Should he tell his best friend his wife is cheating on him? And what's the best time to drop a bombshell like that on someone you love?

The Dilemma is surprisingly poignant for a comedy--the emotions and heartbreak are faced straight on. And Vaughn and James are more than capable of expanding their doofusy personas to show nuance and defeat. The supporting cast, as with all Howard films, is also great--including Channing Tatum as Geneva's partner-in-crime; Queen Latifah, who commands the screen as always; and of course Howard's brother Clint in a cameo. But the heart of The Dilemma is played out among the four main characters, who are solid, engaging, and sometimes appropriately off-putting. The Dilemma asks "Is honesty really the best policy?" And the answer, deftly portrayed with rueful humor and poignancy, is somewhere between secrets and lies. --A.T. Hurley

Product Description

Vince Vaughn and Kevin James headline an all-star comedy from director Ron Howard. Ronny's (Vaughn) world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees something he should not have, and makes it his mission to get answers. As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that his best friend Nick (James) has a few secrets of his own. Now, Ronny must decide what will happen if he reveals the truth. Also starring Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars WARNING! This is NOT, I Repeat, This is NOT a Comedy! May 26, 2011

By Jonny Lee

Format:Blu-ray

Do you ever hear things through the grapevine that make you want to NOT like a movie? "The Dilemma" was one of those flicks for me. I heard so much bad stuff about it, that where I would typically want to watch it just to see how wrong everybody was, I actually didn't want to see it at all.

Quite frequently, problems occur at my local Blockbuster, where titles that are supposed to be on the shelf on a given day, aren't. So when this movie finally made it to the shelf 1 1/2 weeks after its release date (their excuse was that Direct TV bought out Blockbuster, and they were closing negotiation contracts with movie studios), it was the only fairly new release there on that particular day that I hadn't seen. So, I reluctantly picked it up.

First off, this was improperly billed as a comedy. WRONG! It's not even a dark comedy. I laughed all of three times, and only once out loud. It's all about soul searching and trying to decide how to do what is right in an almost impossibly awkward situation. It's about questioning whether or not to follow your heart or your head. It's about seeing honesty for what it truly is. It's about relationships and the ability to maintain fidelity within one where the entire physical part of it has been removed. It's about much, much more, as well.

Now I can see why everyone bashed "The Dilemma" from here to Kingdom Come. It was billed as a comedy, and the movie viewers came out of the theater confused as to why they barely laughed, let alone why they hardly cracked a smile. The human psyche is a computer that is programmable. If you program that computer to think that it is going to see an comedy and nothing is funny, the computer goes haywire. Somewhere inside it's intricate information pathways is the repetitive phrase, "That does not compute! That does not compute! That does not compute!" The end result is confusion, which breeds a dislike of what caused the confusion. It wasn't the movie, folks. It was the idiots who tried to pass it off as a comedy, when it was clearly a drama with a couple of small funny bits for comic relief.

So, I'm here to tell you this: If you watch this movie with your brain already programmed to see a drama, you'll love it. Period. I'll give it four stars! ****

Blu-Ray specifics: Excellent PQ! Better AQ! Fair on the Extras!

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the film it should have been. May 2, 2011

By DanD VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Let's face it: Finding your best friend's wife is cheating on him, and then trying to tell him (and then trying NOT to tell him), isn't funny. A great comedic director could take that situation and turn it around, make the serious hysterical. Ron Howard, alas, is not a great comedic directer. He's a pretty darn good dramatic director, however, which ultimately hinders THE DILEMMA.

The problem is, the film isn't funny. Even when it tries, which it rarely does. At moments, the film achieves a certain poignancy that is touching; it examines the crevices of the buddy-buddy relationship (in a much more serious way than, say Judd Apatow usually does), and hits some disturbingly harsh notes. What is most frustrating is that the cast (yes, even Kevin James) is up for the challenge: Vince Vaughn has proven himself a dramatic actor in the past, as has Jennifer Connelly. James holds his own; in fact, when he's at his worst when he's trying for yucks. Winnona Ryder delivers a solid, understated performance (as she did in BLACK SWAN). Queen Latifah is a bit over-the-top in her minor role, but Channing Tatum is surprisingly not; not that he's suddenly metamorphosed into a mesmerizing actor (his "emotional" scene opposite Vaughn makes the latter look like a true thespian), but at least he's trying here.

Allan Loeb's script is a bit two-dimensional, and Ron Howard's directing, as it unfortunately can be, is lazy; this film meanders, and never truly finds its place. It's not funny--I saw it in a packed (I know!) theater, and there were mostly groans--and it's not tender; it's uncomfortable to watch, but usually in the wrong ways. Occasionally the film strikes just the right awkward note, giving you a peak at the film it COULD have been. But then, who would want to go see a drama starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James? Maybe somebody should get that project started; both actors apparently have the chops to pull it off, and, if nothing else, they have pretty good on-screen chemistry.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring May 9, 2011

By Lily

Format:DVD

My boyfriend and I rented this movie the other night out of sheer boredom, boy, was that a mistake! There were maybe two scenes that made us laugh, the rest of the movie we yawned and just commented on how boring the movie is. I personally didn't like any of the characters, and the only one I felt some sympathy toward was Jennifer Connelly's. Queen Latifah had few lines and I think she was the funniest character in this movie. I am not a professional movie reviewer, but I would not recommend this movie to anyone unless you are planning to be bored.