'You, Me & Dupree' — And Plagiarism?

Jazz-rock duo Steely Dan have accused the makers of "You, Me and Dupree" of ripping them off in a profanity-laced, mock-angry letter that connects a large imposing Russian, plagiarism and Owen Wilson.

The group alleges that the idea for the new comedy was stolen from their song "Cousin Dupree," which details the story of a young man who crashes on his aunt's couch. Wilson's character in the movie is fired from his job, moves in with a friend and sleeps on (you guessed it) the couch.

The guys who comprise Steely Dan — Walter Becker and Donald Fagen — addressed their qualms to actor Luke Wilson, younger brother of the "Dupree" star.

After introducing themselves as "the guys from Steely Dan, we won those Grammies that time," and praising some of Luke's acting roles, the musicians launch into their attack.

"What we suspect may have happened is this," they wrote. "Some hack writer or producer or whatever they call themselves in Malibu or Los Feliz apparently heard our Grammy-winning song, 'Cousin Dupree,' on the radio and thought, hey man this is a cool idea for a character in a movie or something."

2The group added: "They like took our character, this real dog sleeping on the couch and all and put him in the middle of some hokey, 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' rip-off story and then, when it came time to change the character's name or whatever, so people wouldn't know what a rip the whole thing was, they didn't even bother to think up a new (expletive deleted) name for the guy!"

The pair warns Luke Wilson that his brother Owen "has gotten himself mixed up with some pretty bad Hollywood schlockmeisters and that he may be doing, like permanent damage to his goods creds and whatever reputation for coolness he may still have."

Their anger becomes paramount when they say that they weren't even contacted or consulted about the movie, adding that "we're totally out in the cold on this one."

The main purpose of Becker and Fagen's letter, however, may be to coerce Luke into making Owen apologize for his role in the production of this "stinkbomb."

They tell Luke that Owen is "gonna go down hard for selling out like this and for trashing the work of some pretty heavy artists like us in the process … Instant karma is a fact, Jack."

The only redress, the duo suggest, is that Owen come to one of their California concerts and apologize to the group's fans.

In exchange, they offer to load him up with Steely Dan merchandise and put the incident behind them by partying together.

Where does the large imposing Russian play into this?

The Russian, described by Steely Dan as "this guy who works for us sometimes," whose like a Navy Seal "only he's Russian," is used as a threat against Owen.

The musicians end their letter to Luke by saying, "One time we saw (the Russian), with his bare hands, do something so unspeakable that — but, hey man, let's not even let it get that way, you know? Let's just help Owen do what's right, let's play past this particular screw-up, and then he can get back to his life and his family and his beautiful moviestar-style pad or whatever, none the worse for wear."

No word yet from the Wilson brothers.

By Milosh Marinovich