Jennifer Anniston and Ben Stiller do what's expected in a romantic comedy, but the rest of the cast makes Along Came Polly fun to watch.
By STEVE PERSALL
Published January 15, 2004
[Photo: Universal Pictures]
Jennifer Anniston as Polly Prince joins uptight insurance agent Reuben Feffer, played by Ben Stiller, for lunch in Along Came Polly, a film worth seeing more for the supporting roles than for these two.
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The key to successful romantic comedy is the supporting roles, since the time required for destined characters to fall in love decreases their chances to be funny. The sidekicks in Along Came Polly prove the point, providing more laughs than the central boy-meets-girl scenario deserves.
Let's get the basics out of the way. Ben Stiller plays another uptight guy, this one named Reuben Feffer, an insurance company risk analyst who's even more cautious with his personal life. Jennifer Aniston plays Polly Prince, Ben's middle school classmate and now the movie definition of a free spirit. They have nothing in common, so they will fall in love.
Now let's get to the good stuff.
Everything funny that happens in Along Came Polly is due to John Hamburg's detailed supporting characters, and resourceful acting. The first to shine is Philip Seymour Hoffman as Ben's buddy Sandy Lyle, an actor best known for a scene involving bagpipes in a Breakfast Club ripoff. He's a slob, a know-it-all, so deluded by his former fame that he hires a film crew to follow him for an E! True Hollywood Story the cable channel didn't request. Hoffman is great, as if anyone needed to be told that by now.
Next is Hank Azaria, an actor whose industry respect as a comedian has often baffled me. As a voice on The Simpsons he's hilarious. But I've never considered him funny on screen; his best work is serious stuff like Shattered Glass and Cradle Will Rock. But he's a stitch (without wearing any) as Claude, a hunky French scuba instructor who seduces Reuben's skittish bride (Debra Messing) on the honeymoon. With his fractured English and casual carnality Azaria steals each scene he's in.
Alec Baldwin tweaks his triumph in The Cooler as Reuben's boss, Stan Indursky, whose blunt talk and gruff swagger bring out Stiller's best. Stiller is funniest when he's intimidated or grossed-out, and Baldwin is happy to oblige. Same goes for Bryan Brown's turn as a thrill-seeking billionaire whose risk Reuben is assessing. Both men's macho posturing is well-suited to Stiller's brand of reactive meekness.
Hamburg also stages a few choice moments for a pair of underused veterans, Michele Lee and Bob Dishy, as Reuben's alpha mother and the father who raised the white flag years ago. Toss in a dashing salsa dancer (Jsu Garcia) paying too much attention to Polly, and that makes eight solid opportunities for comedy, more than the average in these circumstances.
That's enough to recommend Along Came Polly as a date flick or a future video rental. Stiller doesn't do anything we haven't seen before, Aniston is charming in a shallow role, and the progression of Reuben and Polly's romance could be charted by a 10-year-old. See it for the sidekicks and decide which ones deserve movies of their own.
Along Came Polly
Grade: B-
Director: John Hamburg
Cast: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Debra Messing, Hank Azaria, Bryan Brown
Screenplay: John Hamburg
Rating: PG-13; brief nudity, profanity, crude humor, sexual situations
