Along Came Polly, DVD Review

If I were a schoolteacher I would bring John Hamburg (Writer/Director) to the front of the class and slap his legs. Not only has he copied other peoples work, he has failed to add anything original of his own. Every joke, set piece and character in this film has been done a million times.

The cast of this film should also be doing better for themselves. I think there may have been some agents fired after the watching of this puppy. Ben Stiller playing a Ben Stiller role; slightly neurotic, sensitive, geeky type who is involved in a lot of physically painful comedy. The character he actually plays (Reuben Feffer) is a risk analyst for an insurance firm. Thus he lives his life by balancing risks in everything he does. At the start of the movie he marries Lisa (Debra Messing) who then cheats on him on the first day of their honeymoon with Claude (A buff looking Hank Azaria), who is a native of St Kitts and a scuba instructor. Heartbroken he returns home to be comforted by best friend Sandy Lyle (not the golfer but actually Philip Seymour Hoffman). He then embarks on the singles scene where he meets childhood schoolmate Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston).

The film is supposed to be about opposites attract I suppose because the two main characters couldn’t be more different. Reuben doesn’t do anything that he thinks may harm him, which includes eating nuts at a bar. Polly is supposed to be flighty, quirky and a bit like Goldie Hawn circa 1975. The fact she likes salsa dancing proves just how wacky she is! The way the film plays out neither of these two could possibly like each other never mind fall in love. If I went on some of their dates I’d have a restraining order against me!

The sad thing is there are two very funny characters in the film that aren’t used anywhere near enough. Stan Indursky (Alec Baldwin), who is Reuben’s’ boss is excellent. When he is trying to cheer Reuben up by telling him his wife is nothing but a “dime store hooker”, and to get over her, is priceless. Baldwin is on top form and that’s not something that leaves my lips without careful consideration! Sandy Lyle (Hoffman) is also very funny in parts. His advice is usually misadvised but ultimately proves to be good comedy. He is a washed up child star who is living off one role years ago and still likes to think of himself as a star.

Ultimately this film is just too much of a caricature to succeed. It is badly paced and under scripted. All involved would be best advised to forget as soon as possible, that’s what I’ve done!

The DVD itself wasn’t up to much either. The picture quality was average and was presented in Widescreen 1.85:1. The sound quality, again was no more than average, was in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS.

The extra features were on a par with the film. Nothing new, nothing memorable. The y consisted of a commentary by the director John Hamburg. This was standard fare and nothing to tell the kids about.

There was the original opening with optional commentary. Thank the Lord this never made the cut. Must have been the worst opening to a film ever.

Deleted scenes with optional commentary. A selection of scenes which are best watched with the commentary as at least you know why they weren’t in the cut. Most were refused because it affected the films pacing! Are you kidding, the poor editing man could have ended up with a half hour sitcom pilot if he was worried about pacing!

Rodolfo goes to hollywood. This is a spook interview with Rodolfo, the ferret in the movie. Guy turns up hoping to meet star of film, ends up with ferret, probably about right.

The outtakes weren’t up to much either I’m afraid. I don’t think I laughed at any of them.

Theatrical teaser trailer. This was a U.S. trailer of the film, and was pretty much all you had to see really.

Making of featurette. This was a lot of back slapping. “Ben is so great”, “Jennifer is so great.” All the main cast and the director and producers explain their ‘vision’ of the film. Avoid.

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