Four summers ago, The Break-Up surprised many viewers by following through on its title, forsaking the conventions of a breezy rom-com to detail the agonizing process of dissolving a relationship. Now its star, Vince Vaughn, returns with The Dilemma, another Chicago-based comedy that lurches into straight-up psychodrama, and the tonal instability keeps things lively even when the film seems intent on self-sabotage. Perhaps the shakiness comes from Vaughn, a reckless improviser whose monologues can wend from sour and sarcastic to grudgingly heartfelt and pitiable; he’s a man-child whose juvenile behavior can sometimes mask real vulnerability. It’s rare for a director as reliably down-the-middle as Ron Howard to let his movies go too far out on a limb, but The Dilemma is a wild ride, thrilling when it isn’t a calamity.
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