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January 16, 2004
Along Came Polly
Originally written for The Milpitas Post
Directed by: John Hamburg
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing
Rated: PG-13 for sexual content, language, crude humor and some drug references.
Parental Notes: There's plenty of toilet humor here, but not much else objectionable for the preteen or teen set.
If you have ever wondered what a Jane Austen book would be like if it were adapted by the Farrelly brothers, "Along Came Polly" will come close to providing an answer. There are scenes of charming, life-affirming romance, but they are mingled with extended sequences of painful toilet humor. It's as though one screenwriter wanted to make a sweet romantic comedy and the other wanted to do a rehash of "There's Something About Mary." It's a shame that these two incredibly different comedic styles are mixed together, because the plot is perfectly suited to either but suffers from the weight of supporting both.
Reuben (Ben Stiller) is a risk assessor for an insurance company who is so passionate about avoiding risk that he can calculate exactly how many people with unclean hands have probably eaten from that bowl of free nuts at the local bar. His fiancé, Lisa (Debra Messing), seems like the perfect woman and he's run the risk analysis to be sure. When she leaves him on the first day of their honeymoon for a gorgeous scuba instructor (Hank Azaria, who has been working out), he returns to New York a broken man.
Then he meets Polly (Jennifer Aniston), a flighty, free-spirit kind of girl he knew back in middle school. It's obvious that they're perfect for each other – his constant planning ahead could use a little loosening up and her lack of any kind of plan at all could use a little organization. She drags him on dates to ethnic restaurants while he tries (unsuccessfully) to hide his case of irritable bowel syndrome. She takes him salsa dancing, where his inhibitions and lack of coordination make him incredibly embarrassed. But he falls for her anyway.
Stiller has a real knack for playing sweet but neurotic guys, and Reuben is a perfect part for him. Stiller is fearless in front of the camera, and a subtle enough actor at times to pull off the more mature scenes too. Aniston has the advantage of playing a fairly simple, slapstick-free role, and does a respectable job with it. She's the straightman to Stiller's comedy, but handles it with aplomb. Tucked away in the secondary characters is the fantastic Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing Reuben's best friend. He attacks his role, a washed up former child star, with characteristic ferocity and his performance is quite possibly the funniest in the movie.
What keeps "Along Came Polly" from being a solid comedy is that the embarrassment and toilet humor don't fit in well with the sweet odd-couple romance. The idea that Reuben really wants to loosen up but doesn't know how until Polly shows him is one that works well for a charming comedy but is too mature to fit in well with the gross-out humor.
It's a shame that the filmmakers couldn't make up their minds about which brand of comedy to use, because the two they've chosen don't gel at all. Folks who appreciate toilet humor may well find the rest of the film uninteresting, and folks who don't like toilet humor in their comedy will be offended.
Posted by Ealasaid at January 16, 2004 10:30 AM
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