Dir: John Hamburg. Starring: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hank Azaria.
I could talk for a while about what Along Came Polly was missing, but the fact of the matter is that it really only needs one thing: another writer. John Hamburg, though not without his charms, is way too close to this project, and Along Came Polly desperately needed another voice to tighten things up.
Ben Stiller plays Reuben, a neurotic risk assessor whose latest analysis has gone horribly wrong: On honeymoon, he walks onto his wife shagging the scuba instructor. Alone in New York, he bumps into an old high school friend, free spirit Polly, and they begin a romance. But can Rueben handle a woman who doesn’t think a day in advance? This answer to this question, and indeed every other one in the movie, is pretty predictable, but a decent cast gives it way more sticking power than it deserves.
Ben Stiller, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jennifer Aniston are all funny guys, and they manage to wring humour out of some very laboured set-ups. Aniston is, unfortunately, neglected as per usual, but it’s just good to see her onscreen.
The best humour in Along Came Polly is the understated stuff. The first half-hour particularly has some nice gags that Hamburg is content to underplay and it’s good when that happens in comedy. It’s a bit of a surprise, and you don’t feel that the film is desperate for laughs. Unfortunately, this feeling starts to fad pretty
Ironically, for a film that espouses risk-taking, Along Came Polly is so steadfastly conventional it’s very hard to like, or remember. The peripheral stuff works really well, but Hamburg lacks the talent to bring it to the centre. Why does Hollywood think we like normal protagonists? Look at Ace Ventura, look at Bill Murray’s career, for God’s sake. Strange comedy works, particularly in a film like this, caught somewhere between sex-comedy and romance. Keep the cast, ditch the romance, and put some more jokes in, then we’ll have a movie.
C+
Patrick Garson.
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