Reuben Feffer is an uptight risk analyst who is happy as Larry to have married his sweetheart Lisa. On their honeymoon though, Ruben finds Lisa up to her knees in French scuba instructor Claude and returns home broken. Forced to a party by friend Sandy, Reuben meets old school friend Polly and asks her out for dinner. From here they, oh, I actually don't care. Close your eyes reader and imagine how the relationship between the free-spirited Polly and uptight Reuben ends up. Then imagine lots of contrived scenarios and physical comedy occurring as we drag our way towards that conclusion. Done it? If you laughed once then you probably have done a better job with it than Hamburg did.
If you haven't got it already, I thought this was a terribly contrived film that had very little to recommend it for, no real laughs and a plot that never makes any sense at all (Hamburg just ignores the first date and never explains why Polly calls for a second bite). In fact the script never even bothers to make the characters convincing or the scenarios flow and instead it just stutters long throwing "comic" set-ups out whenever it flags (which is regularly) in the hope that the laughs will sustain it. Problem is that none of it is that funny. I cannot think of more than one or two moments when I laughed which is a pretty big failing in a big budget comedy.
The cast are mixed but certainly the lead two are poor. Stiller is obvious and just does the sort of "stiff, out of place" character he always does. If you like him on autopilot then I guess you'll like him here. Aniston is as bland as always. I know some people love her but personally I do wonder how long she can keep doing her Friends' character before fading away this bland turn is surely one step closer to that anyway. The cameos provide what little entertainment value there is. Hoffman tries hard and is funny even if his material is below him. Baldwin is amusing while Brown and Azaria are both reasonable turns. Pyle annoyed me though which is pretty much par for the course.
Overall then this is a derivative, uninspired and contrived romantic comedy that barely does the basics, showing contempt for its audience throughout. The cast is starry but the material is trash, leaving them with little they can reasonably be expected to do.
If you haven't got it already, I thought this was a terribly contrived film that had very little to recommend it for, no real laughs and a plot that never makes any sense at all (Hamburg just ignores the first date and never explains why Polly calls for a second bite). In fact the script never even bothers to make the characters convincing or the scenarios flow and instead it just stutters long throwing "comic" set-ups out whenever it flags (which is regularly) in the hope that the laughs will sustain it. Problem is that none of it is that funny. I cannot think of more than one or two moments when I laughed which is a pretty big failing in a big budget comedy.
The cast are mixed but certainly the lead two are poor. Stiller is obvious and just does the sort of "stiff, out of place" character he always does. If you like him on autopilot then I guess you'll like him here. Aniston is as bland as always. I know some people love her but personally I do wonder how long she can keep doing her Friends' character before fading away this bland turn is surely one step closer to that anyway. The cameos provide what little entertainment value there is. Hoffman tries hard and is funny even if his material is below him. Baldwin is amusing while Brown and Azaria are both reasonable turns. Pyle annoyed me though which is pretty much par for the course.
Overall then this is a derivative, uninspired and contrived romantic comedy that barely does the basics, showing contempt for its audience throughout. The cast is starry but the material is trash, leaving them with little they can reasonably be expected to do.