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Big-screen notes

“Dinner for Schmucks” stars Paul Rudd, 42, as Tim, a nice guy who will get a big promotion if he wins a cruel contest that his boss holds. The contest involves company executives bringing the most eccentric “loser” they can find to a fancy dinner. The winner is the exec who, in his boss’ opinion, brings the “biggest loser” to the dinner.

Tim is uneasy about participating — but then he chances to meet Barry (Steve Carell) — a guy with a passion for dressing mice up in tiny outfits to re-create great works of art. Tim is initially elated to have found his “promotion ticket”; but then his association with Barry throws his whole life into chaos.

Rudd says he now realizes the word “schmuck” might be offensive to some, but to begin with, Rudd says, “It wouldn’t even have crossed my mind that somebody might find this offensive. … It seems to me that most people use the word nowadays in the sense of, ‘Don’t be a fool’ or ‘Don’t be a jerk’ — as in, ‘Stop acting like a schmuck.’”

The film is directed by Jay Roach, 53 (“Austin Powers”). He converted to Judaism not long before he wed the Bangles’ lead singer Susanna Hoffs, now 51, in 1993. “Dinner for Schmucks” opens Friday, July 30.

Opening last week and still playing is the indie hit “The Kids Are All Right.” It is a comedy of manners about a lesbian couple (Julianne Moore and Annette Bening) who have two teenage kids fathered by an anonymous donor. The kids find their biological father, who turns out to be a very nice guy (Mark Ruffalo). He becomes a frequent house visitor and, unexpectedly, Moore’s character finds herself drawn to him. Sasha Spielberg, 21, and Zosia Mamet, 22, have small parts. They are the daughters of, respectively, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and writer David Mamet.

“Kids” was directed and co-written by Lisa Cholodenko, an L.A. native who studied film at San Francisco State University. The

openly lesbian director worked for the first time with another writer, Stuart Blumberg (“Keeping the Faith”). She told the Boston Globe that she used Blumberg as a “sounding board and reality check” and noted: “We were both raised, value-wise, upper-middle-class Jewish kids, and that brings with it a certain orientation to family. I think a lot about how I’ve been shaped by my family. One of the things I see as a recurring idea in these films is that tension between going your own way, being a rule-breaker, and the desire for a more conventional path.’’

“The Last Airbender,” a big-budget sci-fi fantasy film that opened in early July, got bad notices and did so-so box office — but it may provide a beefy boost to the career of its co-star, pretty newcomer Nicola Peltz, 15. Peltz’s father is billionaire Nelson Peltz, the CEO of Arby’s and Wendy’s. In 2007, the UJA—Federation of New York praised Nelson as a “compassionate leader of the Jewish community.”

Over on cable

San Francisco native Kevin Pollak, 52, stars in his own one-hour comedy special on Showtime (multiple broadcasts). Pollak, now best known as an actor, began his career as a quite funny stand-up comic and spot-on impressionist. His “signature” impression is William Shatner as “Star Trek’s” Captain Kirk. He really captures Shatner’s over-the-top style.

Meanwhile, the real Shatner, 79, continues to explore new TV frontiers. His new Bio cable channel series, “Aftermath with Shatner,” premieres on Monday, Aug. 2 at 10 p.m. It looks at what happens when people are tragically or infamously transformed from unknowns into household names overnight. Shatner’s first guest is Bernhard Goetz, 59, who became instantly famous in 1984 when he shot four young men in a New York subway he thought were about to rob him. (Goetz is often assumed to be Jewish. However, his father was German Lutheran and his Jewish mother converted to his father’s faith).