Carl and Molly Peterson are just starting their new life together--complete with a cute house, boring neighbors, stable jobs and the routines of newlywed existence. There's just one unfortunate hitch in their perfectly constructed new world. And his name's Dupree. Randy Dupree, Carl's oldest friend and perpetual bachelor, has found himself with nowhere to go after being fired. Carl yanks his jobless/homeless pal out of the bar he's living in and invites him to temporarily crash on the couch--that's just what friends do.

"You, Me And Dupree" is not a sequel to "Wedding Crashers" but it should serve as one for those who could not get enough of watching Owen Wilson crashing into weddings and newlywed households.

In "Wedding Crashers", Wilson and Vince Vaughn play two buddies who gatecrash weddings for free food and free sex. Somehow, the movie grossed a whopping US$200 million last summer and boosted Wilson's career playing the fun-loving cad who has problems growing up as a man.

Here, Wilson returns as Randolf Dupree, a slob and Best Man to Carl Peterson (Matt Dillon) at his wedding to Molly Thompson (Kate Hudson) in Hawaii. Dupree is supposed to be back at work in the mainland when the couple return from their honeymoon. Instead, Carl finds him roughing it out at the local pub. Dupree lost his job, his car and apartment after being fired for going AWOL to attend Carl's wedding.

Feeling guilty about his best friend, Carl invites Dupree to stay at his place, consoling Molly that it is "only for a couple of days". The 'couple of days' turn to weeks and worse, Dupree makes a mess of the house and almost destroys it. Carl's marriage flounders and as a result, Dupree gets kicked out.

Here, we are supposed to say 'good riddance to bad buddy' but something happens and the plot takes a weird turn that seems totally out of synch with what has happened before. And before we know it, Dupree goes from intolerable slob to marriage saviour!

There is a subplot about Molly's meddling father (Michael Douglas) and how he dislikes Carl and wants him to get a vasectomy! Again, this does not make sense, given his protests about how the old man loves his daughter Molly. Indeed, most of the characters here suffer from identity crises and do crazy things. Like, one minute, we see Dupree as a clumsy klutz and a good-for-nothing bore and next, he is reading Menza magazines, writing poetry and cooking European cuisine. Carl, on the other hand, starts off as a caring friend but turns into a jealous and villainous freak.

Yeah, there is some sort of a three-act play at work here and each look alien to the others. I cannot fault any of the cast for their performance, given such a roller-coaster of a script (by Mike Le Sieur). Hudson, for one, look ravishing as the cool-headed Molly, and Wilson is at his best when his character is at his worst. Why, there is even a librarian called Mandy who becomes Dupree's love interest but never shows her face onscreen.

As for the laughs, there are only a few to be had in this scattershot comedy. And this is the main problem with "You, Me And Dupree".