Along Came Polly Review
by Michael Dequina (mrbrown AT iname DOT com)February 2nd, 2004
_Along_Came_Polly_ (PG-13) * 1/2 (out of ****)
Watching the typically stinky January release that is Ben Stiller/Jennifer Aniston vehicle _Along_Came_Polly_, I could not help but think that perhaps any star pairing of a "Ben" and a "Jen" is simply a cosmic recipe for cinematic trouble. But, then again, there was no such result with the current Oscar hopeful _House_of_Sand_and_Fog_, which paired a Ben (Kingsley) and a Jen (Connelly) to stunningly--and *intentionally*--gut-wrenching effect; not to mention the upcoming onscreen re-teaming of that most notorious Ben 'n Jen, _Jersey_Girl_, is actually quite effective. So the blame for this remarkably stillborn romantic/gross-out comedy falls squarely on its writer/director, John Hamburg.
Having had a hand in the writing of _Meet_the_Parents_ and _Zoolander_, one would think Hamburg would have a good handle on what works with Stiller, and based on the premise, it would appear that he crafted a snug fit. Stiller plays Reuben Pfeffer, a neurotically cautious risk assessor for an insurance company whose life is thrown for a loop when his new wife (Debra Messing) wastes no time in cheating on him with a scuba-diving instructor (Hank Azaria, sporting a French accent and looking freakishly like Kenny Loggins) during their honeymoon. But more chaos is in store when along comes Polly Prince (Aniston), a free-spirited old grade school classmate who breezes back into his life and his heart.
Thus the stage is set for all manner of humiliating gags that have become Stiller's trademark. But in the years following Stiller's own star-making showcase _There's_Something_About_Mary_, all the bodily function humor seems old hat--particularly when the jokes are obviously striving to be shocking. Instead of eliciting even a grossed-out gasp, let alone a chuckle, cheap gags such as Reuben's irritable bowel syndrome uneasily mixing with Polly's penchant for spicy ethnic foods or Reuben's boss (Alec Baldwin, wasted) touching Reuben's ears with soiled hands make for groans. Even Hamburg's non-scatological humor is uninspired, faux-Farrelly attempts at would-be outrageousness: broad sight (pun intended) gags with Polly's blind ferret; Reuben's ex-child star friend's (Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose pratfall of an entrance ominously foretells of the depths to which he's required to sink) desperate "comeback" bid in a community theater production of _Jesus_Christ_Superstar_. That the latter elicits a sporadic semblance of a chuckle is a tribute to alchemic powers of Hoffman's prodigious talents and not the material.
What of the romance, then, in this romantic comedy? Very little. Stiller and Aniston can be appealing on their own and beguile with other actors, but here they fall short on both counts. Obviously Hamburg was shooting for something along the lines of Stiller's rapport with Cameron Diaz in _Mary_, but instead of striking a sweetly off-kilter note as that, Stiller and Aniston mix more like oil and water. Stiller seems all too aware of how been-there, done-that this role is and appears blasé as he goes through the motions; a similar air of disinterest characterizes Aniston's fairly charmless work as this less interesting variation of her _Friends_ character. But I can only attribute their lifelessness to merely following directions, for if the tedious and relentlessly predictable whole is any indication, Hamburg himself doesn't appear to be much invested in _Along_Came_Polly_, either.
©2004 Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
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