Along Came Polly Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)January 16th, 2004
ALONG CAME POLLY
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Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller, "Zoolander") is so averse to the unplanned that he makes his living as a risk assessor for an insurance firm, but then "Along Came Polly."
John Hamburg ("Safe Men"), cowriter of Stiller starrers "Meet the Parents" and "Zoolander," also takes up the directorial reins for "Along Came Polly," an OK romantic comedy goosed up by supporting players Alec Baldwin, Hank Azaria and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Jennifer Aniston shows off her comic chops as Polly, while Stiller continues with his brand of physically clinched characters who always seem to have major bathroom mishaps.
The film's first scene immediately establishes Feffer's anxietal paranoia and his best buddy's schlumpy charm. Reuben, neatly attired in a black tux, inspects his wedding reception hall, noting that candles have safely been replaced with table lamps, but horrified that the floor has been waxed. Best man Sandy Lyle (Hoffman), wearing a tux like an unmade bed, promptly takes a dive on the polished floor and confesses to the caterer that, yes, he is the famous child actor who starred in "Crocodile Tears" and to watch for his upcoming 'E! True Hollywood Story.' After an embarrassingly crude toast by his boss Stan Indursky (Alec Baldwin, "The Cooler"), Reuben and his new wife Lisa (Debra Messing, TV's "Will & Grace") are off to honeymoon in St. Barts, but on day one Reuben stumbles upon her doing the nasty with French nudist scuba instructor Claude (Hank Azaria, "Shattered Glass," looking very chiseled). To make matters worse, Reuben returns to New York to discover that his mom Vivian (Michele Lee) has relayed all the details to friends and coworkers.
Lyle tries to cheer Reuben up by dragging him along to an art gallery opening and Reuben runs into old junior high schoolmate Polly Prince (Aniston), a waitress who specializes in refilling white wine drinkers' glasses with red. Polly, for cheesy psychological reasons revealed late in the film, is everything Reuben is not - adventurous, spontaneous and indecisive. After a series of horrendous dates involving toilet overflows, overbearing moms and spicy foods, Reuben is not only ready to take a walk on the wild side, but to salsa!
Hamburg's script is weak in the center, but its embellishments (some of which are possible ad-libs) are enjoyable. It stretches belief that Polly would give Reuben as many chances as she does and a subplot about insuring billionaire Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown, "Gorillas in the Mist"), an Xtreme sports nut, isn't successfully integrated. Hoffman makes the most of this material with a richly defined supporting character who offers dubious romantic advice while assuring Reuben that 'I'm your wingman.' Hoffman physically works the role, playing exuberantly bad basketball, shuffling out of a room ('I just sharted' - a new word is coined, for better or worse), taking over the lead role of a Hell's Kitchen Community Theater production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" or making just lolling about funny with perfect placement of limbs. Azaria is tons of fun working a cliched French accent to the hilt, just as Baldwin flaunts New Yawhese ('that hoah wife of yours'). Bryan Brown, in his first Hollywood film in ten years, has some fun as the loonily undeterred base diving, boat racing, shark swimming nutcase who even manages to knock out a tooth playing racquetball. In smaller roles, Michele Lee and Bob Dishy are just right as Reuben's aggressive mom and passive dad, but talents like Missi Pyle ("Big Fish"), Cheryl Hines (HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm") and Caroline Aaron ("Pumpkin") are overqualified for their minuscule roles here.
Aniston steams up the salsa floor and has fun 'liberating' Reuben by starting an attack on his decorative pillows, but the character is always a little too ditzy and unfocussed. She's also saddled with an accessory pet (Rudolfo, a blind ferret) that's too reminiscent of "Something About Mary's" dog and "Meet the Parents'" cat. Stiller, whose best scene is a triumphant salsa dance which he makes geekily awkward and slick at the same time, never succeeds in making Reuben appealing, a serious drawback for a romantic lead.
Besides the story problems, "Along Came Polly" is often edited (William Kerr, "Undercover Brother" and Nick Moore, "Love Actually") to get the gag without allowing the slack that would make the scenes play more naturally. Otherwise the production is polished, including a wide variety of soundtrack selections (Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from "The Breakfast Club" being the most well placed).
"Along Came Polly" is worth seeing for Hoffman, Azaria and Baldwin, but the central storyline is too weak to be held together by the gilt threads that adorn it.
C+
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