A decade and a half ago, the prospect of Joe and Anthony Russo ranking among the highest-grossing directors in the history of cinema would have seemed every bit as preposterous as it was far-fetched, but it would be an understatement to say the siblings have done pretty well for themselves since You, Me, and Dupree took a pasting from critics.
The star-studded rom-com that marked the Russo’s second feature – and first since Welcome to Collinwood four years previously – was a sizeable hit at the box office after netting over $150 million, but a 20 percent Rotten Tomatoes score was far lower than a caper featuring Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, Matt Dillon, Seth Rogen, Michael Douglas, and Bill Hader among its ensemble should be landing.
After that, the Russos didn’t helm another movie for eight years, which just so happened to be Captain America: The Winter Soldier, after Kevin Feige recruited the Community veterans and caused much consternation on the internet that “the Dupree guys” were tackling the star-spangled superhero.
From there, they became the first – and so far only – filmmakers to tackle four MCU blockbusters, with their efforts on Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Endgame combining to bring in more than $6 billion in ticket sales. It’s a hell of a story, one that might even leave first-time viewers of You, Me, and Dupree shocked when they discover who made it.
There seems to be a lot of them, anyway, seeing as FlixPatrol has outed the turgid waste of time as one of the most popular movies on Rakuten heading into the weekend.