You, Me and Dupree is a 2006 comedy starring Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, Seth Rogen, and Michael Douglas. The producers are Scott Stuber, Mary Parent, and Owen Wilson. It is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
The story is about a lovable screw-up named Randy Dupree. After he attends his best friend Carl’s wedding, he finds out that he is fired for not appropriately asking for the time off of work. Dupree is homeless and carless when Carl offers to let him stay with him and his new wife Molly for a few days until he gets back on his feet. Molly reluctantly agrees, but she soon discovers that Dupree is messy. She decides that he needs a girlfriend so she sets him up with Mandy, someone she works with. But when Molly and Carl return home after dinner they find Dupree and Mandy together in their living room with candles burning. As Dupree comes out to explain, one of the candles sets the front of the house on fire. Molly urges Carl to evict Dupree. He decides to move in with Mandy. But, later that night, Carl and Molly are driving home when they spot Dupree sitting all alone in the rain. Molly takes pity on him, but Carl wants to just drive by. They take him back in with some new rules which Dupree agrees to. He refurbishes Molly and Carl’s living room. Carl asks Dupree to speak at career day in Molly’s classroom because her father, who is also Carl’s boss Mr. Thompson, ties him up at work. When he returns home that night, Carl agrees to come home early the next night as Dupree and Molly are making a big dinner. But he doesn’t arrive until later, when he spots them eating together and thinks they are having an affair. Dupree is once again thrown out of the house. The next night, Molly’s father comes over for dinner. They hear Dupree climbing on the drainpipe trying to get the rest of his things. He falls and her father invites him to join them, much to Carl’s dismay. Dupree and Mr. Thompson immediately hit it off, which enrages Carl. He leaps over the table and attacks Dupree. He is taken to the hospital while Carl walks out on Molly. The next morning, Dupree arranges a neighborhood search for Carl. When he goes to the bar to make a pit stop, he finds Carl there. Dupree encourages him to make things right with Molly and stand up to Mr. Thompson.
One specific feature of this film that I find a little curious is that the viewer never sees the face of Mandy, Dupree’s girlfriend. She appears in only two scenes. In one scene, we can see her leg just before Carl and Molly’s house is set on fire when she and Dupree are making love in their living room. Soon after the fire, we can see Dupree talking to her while she is in her car. Only a wig and a nodding head are seen from the back in this scene. It appears that the idea is to have the viewers use their imaginations. The gag is quite clever and unexpected.
Obviously, as the title and trailer clearly indicate, Dupree is the most interesting character in the movie. He is a lovable but completely aimless man who is looking for his call from what he calls “The Mother Ship”. Randolph Dupree seems to always unintentionally mess things up wherever he goes. But it seems every time he does, he makes up for it. In the beginning of the film when Dupree is looking for a job, he is dipping chicken wings in milk and eating them. This causes him to go to the bathroom a lot and, eventually, plug up the toilet. Later that night, he is forced to use Molly and Carl’s bathroom instead of the guest one. Dupree leaves an unpleasant odor in there when he is finished. But the next morning, he makes up for it by making Carl and Molly a nice breakfast. Some time later, he sets fire to their living room and, again, makes amends by refurbishing the entire room himself. As the story goes on, Dupree slowly begins to find his true calling, which he frequently refers to as his “inner-ness”.
To wrap, if you think that You, Me and Dupree is just another “guest-who-won’t-leave” movie, think again! There is so much more to this film than the cover may indicate.