Along Came Polly
Movie Review: Along Came Polly
Stars (Out of 10): 6.5
One Word Summary: Funny Movie Details: Along Came Polly Comedy | Romance MPAA RATING 90 minutes | Color WRITTEN BY DIRECTED BY THEATRICAL RELEASE Relevant Sites: Shopping: "Along Came Polly" Review: Along Came Polly stars Ben Stiller as Ruben Feffer, a risk management analyst for an insurance company who plays it safe in everything he does. He marries the safe wife (she dumps him for her nudist scuba instructor on the first day of their honeymoon), stays away from any danger (because he knows all the statistics), and stays as far away from germs as he can (only one in six people wash their hands after using the bathroom). All that changes when he meets Polly Prince, a childhood friend and risk taker extraordinaire. Polly eats the mixed nuts at bars, likes to go dirty dancing, and eats spicy foods
when their two worlds collide, something has to give! Ben Stiller the second funniest actor in Hollywood (Will Ferrell) and Jennifer Aniston are the moving force of this otherwise mediocre movie. This movie is the first of Ben Stiller's four releases this year, and which is great because he hasn't had that many movies the last couple years. His comedy is always the same, but it's always funny; John Hamburg wrote Along Came Polly, Zoolander, and Meet the Parents knows how to write for Stiller's talents and for his audience. The rest of the cast is hilarious (well, Alec Baldwin has one of the worst accents I've ever heard in a movie, but other than that
). John Hamburg has written many successful and entertaining comedies, but this is his directorial debut; he still has a lot to learn. In an interview, I heard Stiller comment on how when he saw the final cut he noticed a lot of sound effects that weren't there when they were filming. For a mature audience, some of the sound effects were WAY overboard. In one scene of the film, Feffer and Prince are sitting in a foreign restaurant and eating very ethnic and spicy food, Feffer has some stomach problems and while their eating we hear his excessive gas. For a movie with as many good jokes as Along Came Polly, it could have afforded to lose some of the fart jokes. A big problem for a lot of movies these days, especially comedies, is that the trailers are as funny and as enjoyable as the movie because it's basically an hour and a half of jokes, crammed into a two minute clip. Good trailers bring people to the theatre, but they also send a lot of people away bitter. There were still a couple of new jokes in this movie, but I felt like I'd seen most of them and that's not a great feeling. Along Came Polly is a very funny movie, but its plot is as recycled and overused as an environmental newsletter. Two characters one afraid of commitment, one afraid of being alone, completely different from each other
this plot isn't new. What puts this movie apart, even though it seems like nothing special, is a great cast. Other than Stiller there's still an amazing cast. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is so versatile and so funny that he's probably one of the top supporting actors in Hollywood. Hank Azaria brings his talent for voices to this role as a French Scuba instructor. Jennifer Aniston, you either love her or you hate her but in her post-Friends days, you'll definitely be seeing more of her in movies. Debra Messing, in a small role still shines and we'll be seeing more of her as well. The Bottom Line is that Along Came Polly is a mediocre movie that still makes you laugh because its cast could make Chemistry class enjoyable. If you're fan of Ben Stiller or Jennifer Aniston, you probably know what's coming, but you'll enjoy it anyway. Along Came Polly is like a freight train coming right at you, only you don't want to get out of the way. (I mean that in a good way.)
PG-13 for sexual content, language, crude humor and some drug references
USA
John Hamburg
John Hamburg
Jan 16, 2004
Shop Amazon for items related to this movie.
