No ‘Dilemma’ here: Skip this movie

The idea behind “The Dilemma” feels more suited to a 22-minute sitcom than a feature.

One twist after another gets lopped on in such rapid succession that we’re meant to forget how the characters behaved minutes before. The film is an interesting study of talented artists doing their best with flawed material.

Vince Vaughn is watchable and Ron Howard knows how to tug on your heartstrings, but the characters get problematic fast. Women in this film are either paragons of virtue or treacherous sirens, making this buddy flick emotionally shallow and more than a little misogynistic.

Football metaphors shared by the two leads (forget that hockey is the sport we actually see them get fanatic about) get stretched too far in an effort to hide the screenwriter’s lack of research into the automotive industry.

The story veers off into numerous unrelated detours. Characters make obvious blunders just to advance the plot until it all collides in an unlikely resolution. Most troubling of all — except for one last-ditch effort in the final act — is that the main characters’ friendship doesn’t seem to be based on much besides their jobs.

All in all, “The Dilemma” is neither funny nor moving, and Queen Latifah’s character fits into the story about as well as Jar Jar Binks.