Along Came Polly [P&S]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Screenwriter John Hamburg directs his second film (since his 1998 debut Safe Men) with the romantic comedy Along Came Polly. Ben Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a professional risk assessor who never takes chances in any aspect of his life. When his new bride Lisa (Debra Messing) leaves him for a European scuba instructor named Claude (Hank Azaria), he finally decides to a risk of his own. At a party, he meets free-spirited Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), whom he remembers from his seventh-grade Model U.N. Unlike the control-freak Reuben, she's spent her life living on the edge. They reluctantly begin a romance and Polly introduces him to a new world of spicy food and suggestive dances. Along Came Polly also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Reuben's washed-up best friend Sandy Lyle and Alec Baldwin as the obnoxious insurance company boss Stan Indursky. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • "Rodolfo Goes to Hollywood": The feisty ferret gets a fabulous makeover and attends his first Hollywood premiere
  • Cutting Room Floor: Exclusive deleted scenes
  • Do Overs: Outtakes, goof-ups, and other moviemakng bloopers
  • "Making the Movie": Behind-the-scenes featurette
  • The Inside Scoop: Movie commentary from director John Hamburg

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Ben Stiller - Reuben Feffer
       Jennifer Aniston - Polly Prince
       Philip Seymour Hoffman - Sandy Lyle
       Debra Messing - Lisa Kramer
       Alec Baldwin - Stan Indursky
       Hank Azaria - Claude
       Bryan Brown - Leland Van Lew
       Jsu Garcia - Javier
       Michele Lee - Vivian Feffer
       Bob Dishy - Irving Feffer
       Amy Hohn - Cheryl

• Director:

  John Hamburg

• Producer:

  Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher

• Screenwriter:

  John Hamburg

• Cinematographer:

  Seamus Mcgarvey

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Randall Poster

• Composer (Music Score):

  Theodore Shapiro

• Editor:

  Nick Moore, William Kerr

• Production Designer:

  Andrew Laws

• Art Director:

  Martin Whist

• Executive Producer:

  Jane Bartelme, Dan Levine

• Set Designer:

  Don Diers, Greg Berry, Mary Saisselin

• Costume Designer:

  Cindy Evans

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Geoffrey Patterson

• Special Effects:

  Illusion Arts

• First Assistant Director:

  Daniel Silverberg

• Choreography:

  Joann Fregalette Jansen, Anne Fletcher

• Casting:

  Kathleen Chopin

• Second Unit Director:

  Alex Daniels

• Stunts Coordinator:

  Alex Daniels

• Visual Effects:

  Industrial Light & Magic

• Second Unit Camera:

  Larry Blanford

• Supervising Sound Editor:

  Darren King

• Special Effects Coordinator:

  Greg Curtis

REVIEW:

• John Hamburg had previously worked on the screenplays for Zoolander and Meet the Parents before this film, proving that he had the ability to shape material for Ben Stiller. With Along Came Polly, Hamburg graduates to the director's chair as well, and his inexperience behind the camera is noticeable. Although he takes his time and carefully establishes the failed marriage that opens the movie, the body of the film lacks continuity. There are bits of business that seem like they will payoff later but never do, and the scenes fluctuate wildly in their pacing. Although the film fails to work as a whole, there are moments that generate real laughter. Philip Seymour Hoffman uses his potent physicality to get laughs out of both an introductory pratfall and a handful of basketball scenes. In his too few scenes, Alec Baldwin finds the perfect tone as Stiller's boss, combining authority, unctuousness, insincerity, and affection in equal measure. Stiller himself is very comfortable playing this type of character -- for him it is the equivalent of an old pair of sneakers. He's fine, but he does nothing new. Jennifer Aniston could have been interesting, but aside from goading Stiller's character into coming out of his shell, she has almost nothing to play. The film glosses over her emotional issues in order to focus on Stiller's gastrointestinal issues. Along Came Polly lacks inspiration, but for all its faults, it does give the supporting performers enough room to make it better than it could have been. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi