Reuben (Ben Stiller) is a straitlaced risk manager who tries to calculate risk in most everything he does. We witness his marriage to Lisa (Debra Messing), but on their honeymoon things go terribly wrong and they separate. Then along comes Polly (Jennifer Aniston) who is played as a disorganized free spirit who can never make decisions. So, the setup is the clichéd one of rigid person being drawn out of his shell by carefree companion.
Philip Seymour Hoffman provides a couple of laughs as Reuben's wacky friend, particularly the scene with him on the basketball court. Hoffman does seem to at least be trying rather than phoning it in, but Ben Stiller plays Reuben as Ben Stiller--he doesn't have much of a range does he? Stiller did have one good scene doing a frenetic salsa dance. Alec Baldwin seems to be there simply as a draw at the box office, since any one of a hundred actors could have played his part as Reuben's boss.
There are several running gags that got old real fast, like Polly's blind pet ferret running into things, Reuben's suffering from irritable bowl syndrome, and Hoffman's falling down on hard floors. The thing that most irritated me was playing Reuben's IBS for laughs--I always have a hard time with physical or mental disabilities being played for laughs. Reuben's bowel problem was cause for a lot of unfunny bathroom humor.
There was hardly a single sharp line of dialog. Seeing this movie and thinking back to the old Cary Grant/Kathryn Hepburn comedies (think "Bringing up Baby") makes me realize just how coarsened and dumbed down our culture has become.
I had better stop here, further consideration my cause me to move my two star rating to one star.
Philip Seymour Hoffman provides a couple of laughs as Reuben's wacky friend, particularly the scene with him on the basketball court. Hoffman does seem to at least be trying rather than phoning it in, but Ben Stiller plays Reuben as Ben Stiller--he doesn't have much of a range does he? Stiller did have one good scene doing a frenetic salsa dance. Alec Baldwin seems to be there simply as a draw at the box office, since any one of a hundred actors could have played his part as Reuben's boss.
There are several running gags that got old real fast, like Polly's blind pet ferret running into things, Reuben's suffering from irritable bowl syndrome, and Hoffman's falling down on hard floors. The thing that most irritated me was playing Reuben's IBS for laughs--I always have a hard time with physical or mental disabilities being played for laughs. Reuben's bowel problem was cause for a lot of unfunny bathroom humor.
There was hardly a single sharp line of dialog. Seeing this movie and thinking back to the old Cary Grant/Kathryn Hepburn comedies (think "Bringing up Baby") makes me realize just how coarsened and dumbed down our culture has become.
I had better stop here, further consideration my cause me to move my two star rating to one star.