Few laughs in comedy about infidelity

Comedies about infidelity, or perceived infidelity, or thwarted infidelity, have been a staple of moviedom from the silent-screen era to the last two dozen Judd Apatow ripoffs. What distinguishes The Dilemma in this genre is its resounding unfunnyness, its emotional dishonesty, and the general unlikability of its cast of characters.

Directed by Ron Howard and starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James as best buds and business partners, The Dilemma begins over a dinner between friends: Ronny (Vaughn) and his longtime girlfriend, Beth (Jennifer Connelly), and Nick (James) and his wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder). Ronny and Beth are in awe of Nick and Geneva's marriage, their intimacy, the sense that after many years their love still burns with intensity. But then a debate ensues: How well can you really know someone? How honest are we? Can relationships really be built on trust?

Answers: Not well at all. Not very. Good luck.

On a visit to a Chicago botanical garden, where Ronny is mapping out his planned proposal to Beth, he spies Geneva in a passionate snog with some guy who is not Nick. Ronny is crushed by what he sees, and also thrown into a deep quandary. He and Nick are on the verge of a deal with Chrysler execs (the duo are developing a non-wimpy, electric muscle car) and the pressure, particularly for Nick (the creative side of the business), is enormous.

And then, everything explodes in a mess of misunderstanding, mistrust, deceit, regret, and rage. The intent is to wring laughter from the fallout, but as written by Allan Loeb (the grim Things We Lost in the Fire, the slick Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) and directed by Howard (not in his Oscar mode, a la Frost/Nixon, but in hack mode, per The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons), the jokes are few and feeble.

High point: Ronny's inappropriate toast at Beth's parents' 40th anniversary celebration, where he "honors" the couple for sticking it out as he imagines the illicit trysts and betrayals each must have committed over the years.

He's arrived late for the party, and it's the first time he's met his putative in-laws.

On screen, Vaughn combines a cutting, caustic attitude with brute-force physicality - at his best he can hurl himself into the comic mayhem, riffing wildly. Here, however, he simply comes off perplexed, depressed. James, who looks like Vaughn's truncated doppelganger, plays a neurotic Everyman shlub. Ryder (who camps it up madly in Black Swan) exudes hardness and hurt. And as a successful chef who becomes rightly concerned over her beau's recent, worrisome behavior, Connelly summons a few moments of genuine feeling.

Unfortunately, they belong in a John Cassavetes movie.EndText