Corporate Line: Ben Stiller plays risk-averse Reuben Feffer, whose best-laid plans for life and love careen wildly off track when his bride dumps him on their honeymoon for a muscle-bound scuba instructor. Stunned, humiliated and in the grip of acute indigestion, Reuben plans to play it safer than ever. But a chance encounter with an adventure-craving, childhood friend named Polly (Jennifer Aniston) shoots him into a whirlwind of extreme sports, spicy foods, ferrets, salsa dancing and living in the moment.
The Good: Ben and Jen have more chemistry than the first couple dubbed Ben and Jen. Stiller doesn’t rock you with great acting nor an award winning performance it’s the potty humor that gets us again. I, like the rest of those in the theater, laughed out loud at the outrageous antics of Stiller. Certainly there are some issues in the bathroom.
Jennifer Aniston shines as the carefree lass who is afraid of committing to anything. The funny thing, perhaps, is it’s her pet ferret that actually garners most of the laughs. And then there is Philip Seymour Hoffman playing a child actor who is no longer famous. I have one question; why are we still retreading this sort of character? How many times can Hollywood work this? Hoffman is a brilliant actor too bad he’s given such a weak part.
The Bad: I’m sure this will earn some hisses, but it has to be said; Ben Stiller is one-dimensional. I think the guy is funny and yet we have never seen him play anything at least good where the guy isn’t the lovable loser. Maybe it’s the fact that he fits the part or maybe it’s the fact that he doesn’t know how to pretend to be anything else.
The storyline isn’t realistic. The scenes are more choreographed than a karate movie. And the jokes are very often way off the mark.
Frankly: I will say I laughed out loud a hell of a lot of times. Along Came Polly is hilarious, but if you need a ferret to carry the laughs on his little furry shoulders then you know you are in trouble.
+ Charlie Craine
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