A Surprisingly Zestless Romantic Comedy, Along Came Polly Simmers.

The Good: Some very funny moments, Interesting characters
The Bad: Acting is derivative, Characters end up as types, Very predictable
The Basics: While not terrible, Along Came Polly is an ultimately underwhelming romantic comedy that can safely be skipped.


Last night my wife got to pick the movie we watched. She was still a little sore at me for the way Memento did not actually end and she decided to use her choice of movie night to share with me one of the few romantic comedies she enjoys. That took the form of Along Came Polly. My wife likes both Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston, so Along Came Polly was a pretty natural movie to appear in her permanent collection. Before we watched it, she defined the movie for me as her favorite film she ever picked up in Wal-Mart’s $5.00 bin. And after watching it with her, I can pretty much see why.

Along Came Polly is shockingly average and for one who is not a fan of romantic comedies, as my wife is (not, I am), I was surprised how painfully formulaic the movie was. Without even overanalyzing how predictable the initial events of the film were – i.e. the fact that Debra Messing who starts the film paired with Ben Stiller is not billed very high, making it obvious to anyone who has seen pretty much any movie that her character will make a quick exit - Along Came Polly is structured like a writing class project for the archetypal romantic comedy. All that shakes it up from being average is a few uncommonly humorous moments. Unfortunately, those moments are pretty equally balanced by the acting, which is in no way extraordinary, merely the performers playing within the bounds they have clearly established in other roles before this one.

Reuben Feffer is thrilled to marry his best friend, Lisa. On their honeymoon to St. Barts, however, Lisa has an affair with the scuba instructor, which Reuben walks in on. Returning to New York alone and looking toward a pretty bleak future moving into the house he bought for both of them, Reuben agrees to go out on a few dates, per his best friend’s recommendation. While at an art opening, they run into Polly Prince, a woman they knew in their childhood. Reuben decides to see who Polly has become since middle school and he asks her out.

Polly could not be more different than the insurance analyst. Reuben assesses risk for a living and he has trouble getting Polly to commit to eating a meal out more than a day in advance. When they go out for spicy food, Reuben ends up drenched in sweat and in an awkward bathroom situation. But, oddly, Polly remains strangely undeterred and they go dancing and have another dinner, which Reuben’s parents interrupt. As Reuben tries to assess the risk for a thrillseeking client, he and Polly get closer and the relationship seems to be heading in a direction that gives Reuben the potential to move on . . . until Lisa resurfaces!

Along Came Polly seems to be much more appreciated by the general populace based on the strength of the cast and it is hard to argue that Along Came Polly is not well-staffed. Led by Ben Stiller as Reuben, Along Came Polly balances Stiller with Jennifer Aniston (Polly) and features Debra Messing (Lisa), Alec Baldwin (Reuben’s boss, Stan), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Reuben’s best friend, Sandy), Hank Azaria (looking pretty cut, especially for a voice actor!), and several others in even more minor roles. Along Came Polly has a good cast and everyone who appears in the movie appears well-cast for the role that they are in.

In fact, that is one of the issues with Along Came Polly. The casting is entirely unimaginative for the roles. Ben Stiller, especially, suffers as Reuben because it is little more than a retread of the character he played in The Royal Tenenbaums. We get it, Stiller can do a balance of neurotic and deeply damaged. The problem with Stiller as Reuben in Along Came Polly is that he offers us nothing new (except a shot of his butt). Stiller did this role half a decade prior . . . what’s new?

As for the rest of the cast, it is fine, but similarly unremarkable. As the title role in Along Came Polly, Jennifer Aniston would seem to be a highlight, but her performance is surprisingly unmemorable. Aniston is upstaged in every scene she shares with her character’s blind ferret. Aniston is good at playing a free spirit, but for someone who is supposed to be living life in an exciting way, Polly is actually remarkably mundane. Sure, she salsa dances and eats spicy food, but those are really the only two risky behaviors we see her engage in, so she is not much of a contrast to Reuben. Aniston, for her part, does what she can with the role, but it’s not a spectacular role.

The supporting performances in Along Came Polly are equally average, with none of the other actors wowing viewers (though Bob Dishy’s part as Reuben’s father amused me). Moreover, Along Came Polly is almost painfully formulaic, which does not give viewers any real surprises that fit the film. As much as I wanted to like Along Came Polly, the structure of it was very basic, very direct and pretty much the literal rendering of a romantic comedy by the numbers, from the challenges to the relationship that arise to the sidekick best friend’s character arc.

What saves Along Came Polly from being considered completely mundane is the humor in the film. There are several funny lines in Along Came Polly, like the way Reuben seems fixated on the fact that Lisa and the scuba instructor kept their fins on while having sex. When Reuben’s father speaks, it is amusing and even Stiller’s dancing (which bears an uncomfortable resemblance to his physical comedy in Zoolander) is worthy of a chuckle. But not all of the humor works for Along Came Polly. When Reuben is playing basketball and his face essentially acts as a squeegee for a bare-chested man’s sweat, the gag – in addition to being absolutely gross – feels distractingly generic. It is a gag that could have been done in virtually any movie for the same effect; it does not actually reflect much on Reuben’s character to not want to swallow the man’s sweat.

In the end, Along Came Polly is a simple, standard romantic comedy that lacks the “wow” factor to be truly enduring and, as a result, ends up in the lower ranges of what I consider an “average” film.

For other works with Masi Oka, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Friends With Benefits
Fired Up!
Get Smart
Heroes

4.5/10

Check out how this movie stacks up against others I have reviewed by visiting my Movie Review Index Page where the reviews are organized from best to worst film!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Save Your Money, The Best Of I Love You, Man Is In The Previews!

The Good: One or two good jokes, Sweet, Gay positive
The Bad: Repetitive humor, Light on character, Average-at-best acting, Entirely predictable.
The Basics: When Peter plans on marrying Zooey, he goes through a disastrous process of man-dates to find a best man in the surprisingly un-funny I Love You, Man.


[Note: I originally wrote and published this review in advance of the film. My wife and I rewatched the film last weekend and I found it still held up. Enjoy! - W.L. Swarts]

Ostensibly the point of early screenings that I take part in is to build word of mouth buzz for new movies. The advantage to being a reviewer is that when a film is good, I might be part of the buzz to help build the lines and sell tickets. And when a film is lousy, I can help people in these tough times save their hard-earned cash and devote their time to better causes. I am sure that if I had any real effect on the market at large, I would be a bane to several of the major studios. Tonight, I would no doubt earn the ire of Paramount for putting the bottomline on I Love You, Man first:

Save your money: all of the best lines and moments in this film were in the preview. If you saw the preview, you've seen the best clips and, sadly, there is not much substance beyond what was in the previews in the actual film. But more than that, this is a movie not worth purchasing or renting the DVD when it is eventually released in that medium. No doubt, even with it being rated R for language, there will be a more extreme DVD version with even more swearing, but this is a flick that can safely be left behind until it shows up on network television. It is seriously that un-funny and predictable and utterly average at its best moments.

Peter is an orderly, decent real estate agent who has just proposed to Zooey, and they plan to be married in Santa Barbara. Peter has a big real estate deal that he is planning, hinged upon selling the mansion of Lou Ferrigno. As they begin preparations for their wedding, Zooey quickly narrows down who she might have as her maid of honor, but Peter realizes his best friend is probably his mother and he begins to search for a male friend who might stand beside him as his best man.

What follows is a series of man-dates that put Peter with freaks, manly men drastically unlike him and gay men who misinterpret his desire for friendship as a romantic advance. While showing the Ferrigno Estate, Peter meets Sydney Fife, a free-spirited investor who shows up to pick up women and eat the good food Peter provided. Despite being exact opposites, Peter and Sydney hit it off and begin spending more and more time together. As the wedding nears, Zooey begins to feel threatened by Sydney's new place in Peter's life and Peter must decide which of the people he loves he truly wants in his life.

Set in Hollywood, I Love You, Man is arguably a one-line concept that plays out like exactly what it is. Peter goes on man-dates and that comes to jeopardize his relationship with Zooey. The basic concept of a man with no male friends trying to get some by essentially going on dates is a simple concept and that it threatens his relationship with his fiance is possibly the most obvious potential consequence of such a move. So from the outset, I Love You, Man is conceptually weak. The idea is simple and the plot and character direction is pretty obvious.

At least as insulting to the audience looking for anything even remotely new is that the Peter/Sydney relationship is treated as an "opposites attract" type scenario. In other words, the film trades on the concept that audiences will be wowed by the idea that instead of a movie where a fiance is cheated on by her man with another woman - the "meeting the love of your life after you're engaged" scenario - this movie has a man filling that role. The problem is, outside that, the film does nothing truly unique or even interesting. Outside the switch in gender, this is a romantic comedy that follows along the most formulaic lines.

I Love You, Man is a movie startlingly lacking in humor. One knows one has become jaded in the process of reviewing movies when one goes into a comedy and keeps a tally of how many times they laugh. For the record, I Love You, Man had twenty laughs and twenty-two moments that made me smile. Out of a movie that is over an hour and a half long, this is not an especially good record. And, for the record, only one of the laughs was something that was not in the trailer (a pretty hilarious phone conversation between Peter and Lou Ferrigno at work that Sydney walks in on). As well, a few things that were amusing only garnered smiles . . . because I saw the joke in the trailer.

What the film does have given that it does not have an excess of humor is charm. The moments between Peter and Zooey are rightfully charming and fun to watch. Peter is a sweet guy and clearly very loving of Zooey, so one empathizes predictably with Peter when he overhears Zooey talking with her girlfriends about the upcoming wedding and her anxieties about Peter's lack of male friends. Unfortunately, most of that charm is so predictable, obvious and choreographed that it makes it difficult for the seasoned movie viewer to enjoy it. The viewer understands that Peter will have different, but equally genuine, relationships with Zooey and Sydney and this movie carries that with a remarkably predictable sense of schmaltz to it. It is just a little corny, made more so by how predictable it is.

And ultimately, I Love You, Man has a lot of crude "guy" humor. So, there are several fart jokes, beer-drinking humor and vomit gags that are not terribly funny and end up making the movie into something with even less potential than the predictable plot and character arcs established it as. Worse than that, so much of the movie repeats itself as far as the humor goes. Starting with a phone conversation that involves a number of mildly explicit sex jokes, the movie drifts into an office scene with Peter where a co-worker subjects him to a Youtube video that involves several sex jokes.

What character elements might have existed tend to be compromised in favor of a ridiculous plot. Peter is very white bread, so of course Sydney is a free spirit whom he is able to be completely honest with. Peter and Zooey withhold truths from one another and there is only a fair amount of on-screen chemistry with them. There is a pretty decent sense of chemistry between Peter and Sydney, but it largely seems to go the one way, with Peter simply becoming more like Sydney throughout the film. At least the film is pretty gay-positive (Peter's brother is gay).

Rashida Jones plays Zooey and given that my experiences with her acting before this comes largely from Boston Public, it is nice to see her given a role that is easily within her capacity, but is more than she has been used at on other works. Unfortunately, Jason Segel, who plays Sydney, is much more a function of good casting than good acting. Director John Hamburg utilizes Segel in virtually the same way that everyone else uses Segel. As a result, there is little differentiation in mannerisms between Segel's performance in Freaks & Geeks (reviewed here!) and How I Met Your Mother and his role here as Peter.

To the best of my knowledge, this was my first experience with Paul Rudd, the lead of I Love You, Man. Rudd slouches through the movie with a limited appeal and body language that reminded me of much of Ben Affleck's early works. In other words, Rudd's acting as the tight guy who slowly begins to unwind under his friend's guidance is as average and blase as the role itself is. In other words, Rudd's performance is not going to get people out of their houses in anticipation of his mastery of the craft.

Then again, I Love You, Man leaves the viewer with far too few reasons to get out of their houses and go to the theaters to check this flick out.

For other works with Paul Rudd, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Year One
Monsters Vs. Aliens
Forgetting Sarah Marshall

4/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permisison.


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