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Along Came Polly - 01/16/04 - PG-13 - 90m
Ben
Stiller - Reuben Feffer
Jennifer Aniston - Polly Prince
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Sandy Lyle
Director: John Hamburg
Written by: John Hamburg
Studio: Universal
Official
Website
JEF
First things first… this is a chick flick disguised to
look like a Ben Stiller Comedy.
Storyline: Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) is a somewhat
uptight insurance risk advisor. He lives his life a lot like his job where
he is supposed to analyze risky behavior and then determine if the company
should insure the person(s). The film opens with Reuben’s marriage
to Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing). They head off to their honeymoon and the
trouble begins. Lets just say things happen, and the marriage gets put
on hold. Reuben heads back to New York City, and meets an old school friend
Polly (Jennifer Aniston). I’m sure you can fill in the blanks with
the rest of the storyline.
I generally like Ben Stiller as an actor/comedian. And for those of you
who are fans of his, you must check out the somewhat obscure film called
“Zero Effect”. I just checked Ben’s list of film credits
and he’s been in quite a lot of films with quite a few wrapping
up postproduction as we speak. (One I’m especially looking forward
to is Starsky and Hutch!). Anyway, this is one of those films that are
kinda written around Stiller’s normal character as a bit uptight,
yet a little crazy.
The beginning of the film was rather funny at parts. I especially enjoyed
Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s character of “Sandy Lyle”.
I think this film made it clear that Phillip is a terrific supporting
actor, but for some reason when he takes a lead role… not so much.
The downside to this film is that after it gets off to a funny start,
it starts to run out of steam. The storyline was rather thin, and you
could see what was coming in the next scene. A few cliché moments
such as a small furry pet of the girlfriend which seems to be in every
one of these type movies.
The acting… yeah, ok. Nothing spectacular. I just saw Alec Baldwin
play a fantastic role in the Cooler as a slimy casino boss, and now to
see him next in this film where his accent felt just a little too forced
was a bit of a letdown.
Debra Messing was in the movie for a few short moments, and I can’t
say I was disappointed about this. I’m not a big fan of hers.
Jennifer Aniston did a good job, but again, not exactly a big leap for
her to play a 30 something, single, attractive female in New York City…
I kept waiting for the other cast of Friends to make a Cameo. I did see
“The Good Girl” so I know she can act well.
Even though his role was smaller than Debra’s I enjoyed Hank Azaria’s
acting as “Claude”. His accents or voices are always great.
Finally, I noticed and enjoyed the soundtrack to the movie. A lot of well-placed,
good songs throughout.
So, even with the pluses this movie has going for it, it just sort of
ran out of steam in the second half of the movie. You kept waiting for
something new to happen, or something that you haven’t seen in half
a dozen other “dating” movies, but it fell back on all the
usual storylines.
Maybe this would be a good rental, but I can’t recommend it in the
theatre.
Jef
