Ben Stiller has a habit of playing virtually the same trite everyman for all his romcom roles. Along Came Polly carries on with this tradition, and, in an unsurprising and ultimately underwhelming turn of events, as the perfect accompaniment for Stiller's utterly dull character we get Jennifer Aniston playing, you guessed it, Jennifer Aniston. I liked her in Friends but talk about someone who coasts on her looks. She has the acting range of a petrified piece of wood. The wood may even display more artistic integrity.
And yet I recommend this movie to essentially everyone, despite it clearly being bad. Why? Three words, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The late PSH is one of the greatest actors to ever grace the big screen and his dialogue and mannerisms as Sandy, Ben Stiller's best friend, carry this movie into quotable territory. It has one of the greatest basketball scenes in movie history, which I still mimic to this day when I hit the courts. He is not overused either, like some kind of superactor, he shows up just when we need him to inject life into this otherwise stale experience. It is so great to see a normally dramatic and heart wrenching actor completely crush a comedic role, it really shows his mastery of his craft.
There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about this movie apart from PSH and he remains the only reason to see this movie, but for me that is enough. This man is the exact opposite of Jennifer Aniston in terms of acting range and was ripped from us far too soon. Rest in peace you king of men you will be missed dearly.
And yet I recommend this movie to essentially everyone, despite it clearly being bad. Why? Three words, Philip Seymour Hoffman. The late PSH is one of the greatest actors to ever grace the big screen and his dialogue and mannerisms as Sandy, Ben Stiller's best friend, carry this movie into quotable territory. It has one of the greatest basketball scenes in movie history, which I still mimic to this day when I hit the courts. He is not overused either, like some kind of superactor, he shows up just when we need him to inject life into this otherwise stale experience. It is so great to see a normally dramatic and heart wrenching actor completely crush a comedic role, it really shows his mastery of his craft.
There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about this movie apart from PSH and he remains the only reason to see this movie, but for me that is enough. This man is the exact opposite of Jennifer Aniston in terms of acting range and was ripped from us far too soon. Rest in peace you king of men you will be missed dearly.