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The romantic comedy Along Came Polly succeeds – and
the verb is used lightly – strictly by virtue of arithmetic. It’s as simple as
this: It gets many, if not most, of the laughs it goes for. Writer-director John Hamburg,
who penned Meet the Parents
and the goofy Zoolander,
doesn’t aspire to anything particularly original, or smart. But he does get
hysterical performances out of supporting players Hank Azaria, Alec Baldwin, Philip
Seymour Hoffman and Debra Messing. And his protagonist Ben Stiller is enough of an
Everyman for the character to resonate with audiences, even if the formulaic story about a
staid businessman (Stiller) who goes for a flighty waitress (Jennifer Aniston)
doesn’t.
Is there an indignity Stiller hasn’t suffered? Known for close
encounters with disgusting substances in the likes of There’s
Something About Mary, Stiller, playing risk assessor Reuben Feffer, is in top
form again. Here he collides with grease dripping from pizza, the sweaty, hairy belly of a
guy playing basketball, and the contents of a full toilet bowl that overflows in his
date’s apartment. That bathroom scene, which begins when Stiller faces an empty roll
of toilet paper and no replacement in sight, exemplifies Hamburg’s, well, competence
when it comes to gross-out comedy. Most movie bathroom scenes – especially those in
teen flicks– aren’t remotely funny. But this is scream, mostly because the setup
isn’t so outrageous that average folks can’t relate. And the kicker, involving a
hand-embroidered towel, really brings the joke home.
Amusing as they are, the lowbrow antics aren’t the sole source of Along
Came Polly’s appeal. One by one, the actors in supporting roles knock out so
many dynamite characterizations, it simply doesn’t matter that the romance is tepid
– or ultimately incomprehensible. Messing nails her role as Reuben’s blushing
bride, who proceeds to dump him on their honeymoon. During the wedding reception scene at
the film’s outset, with spot-on nervous giggles, she exudes that sweet but feigned
modesty displayed by people put in the spotlight.
With an utterly silly French accent, absurdly abundant hairstyle and
buffed up physique, Azaria is riotous as the scuba instructor who runs off with Messing.
But Baldwin, as Reuben’s gloriously distasteful boss, equals him, as does Hoffman, in
the movie’s quirkiest part. A former child actor who had one hit in a John
Hughes-like movie, Reuben’s friend Sandy still thinks he has the chops, and
he’ll do nothing short of assigning himself multiple roles in a community theater
production of Jesus
Christ Superstar. Every time he shows up, he’s worth a laugh.
Unfortunately, the genuine comedy in Along Came Polly is
somehow unto itself and doesn’t draw from what’s essentially a lackluster plot.
Although Aniston is fine as the freewheeling Polly, the character isn’t fleshed out
enough to make it clear why she’d fall for a controlled fellow like Reuben. Happily,
Hamburg doesn’t make Reuben a total geek. While the guy is averse to risk, he’s
not nerdy to the point of being an outcast.
But why does Polly make so few compromises when it comes to their
relationship? Reuben is the one who has to make all the concessions, which, alas, come in
the form of cliches: He gets used to eating spicy, ethnic food, he learns salsa to
accommodate her yen for dancing at underground clubs. Why, in Hollywood, is the sensible
person the "wrong" person and the one who needs to change?
Perhaps the question is too much to ask of a simple entertainment like Along
Came Polly. The movie doesn’t represent cinema at its height, but it will evoke
more than a chuckle or two. And that’s not a half-bad way to spend 90 minutes.
- Leslie Katz
