Flirter avec les embrouilles

FLIRTING WITH DISASTER (1996) **** Ben Stiller, Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni, Alan Alda, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Lily Tomlin, Richard Jenkins, Josh Brolin. Hilarious and wickedly sharp satire about a young man (Stiller in a memorable turn) searching for his identity by trying to locate his biological parents while alienating his neglected and lovely wife (the yummy Arquette) and Leoni (simply wonderful) as his adoption broker. Fine ensemble cast (especially Moore in an inconoclastic poke at her image) and Alda (ditto). Subversive good, clean fun and seriously dysfunctional family values (thank God!) from filmmaker David O. Russell beating the Sophomore Jinx (in this his second turn at the helm).

Flirting with Disaster (1996)

This is one of those movies that's just plain stupid in such a funny way you'll likely laugh out loud a lot. And you'll finish thinking it's a pretty stupid movie. The ending in particular makes you wonder what all the build up was about since it diffuses, as if the writers ran out of conflicts (or solutions) and raised their hands in surrender.

But on the way there is one funny gag after another. And a whole slew of excellent actors doing their zany best. Some of them have very brief (and contained) appearances, for sure--Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda, for example, in a hilarious section of the movie with little connection to the rest of it. In fact, the whole movie is broken into spasmodic sections, held together mostly by the three leading leads (there are lots of main characters): Ben Stiller (looking for his biological parents), Patricia Arquette (his suffering, sweet wife), and Tea Leoni (the mentally incomplete but skinny and sexy interloper).

Stiller isn't actually totally funny by himself, but acts like more of a foil for all the crazy things happening around him (this is his style on purpose, a kind of regular guy in an irregular world). Arquette is almost too normal for this abnormal world, but that's fine, she's likable, and is meant to be the loving wife who doesn't quite know how zany the events around her are. At first. Leoni has a terrific way of making nutty faces and being just slightly insane without being just stupid (the way Will Ferrell is just stupid in a different kind of humor).

There are gay jokes and jokes about LSD and a general playing of an ultra-licentious world against what seems to be a normal human desire to connect with your genetic parents, unknown to you. The mistakes along the way are what make it hilarious. Until the end, where it maybe is trying to say, "Oh well, everything is okay in a world where anything goes." Sure. Pop the big bubble, but on the way it's a gas. No pun intended.

Why is it that people think grating, annoying, OBNOXIOUS characters are funny ? It's hard to laugh when you just want someone, ANYONE to smack those people up the back of the head as hard as they can. The dialogue goes nowhere, the scenes go nowhere and all in all you feel like you wasted 2 hours of your life watching something that might have worked as a Saturday Night Live skit. Avoid at all costs. I'm the type of person that can always find something redeeming in a film and there is NONE to be found here.

Mel Coplin has a child with Nancy but has yet to name him because Mel feels he cannot give a name until he has met his real parents. Mel approaches the adoption agency and meets Tina, who wants to go with Mel as he meets his parents. Mel, Nancy, Tina and the baby set out on a road trip to met Mel's mother. However when he finds that the agency has made a mistake it sparks a wider search for his real parents.

I taped this film because I have seen several other films by the same director and wanted to give this a shot on the strength of those works. I knew it was a comedy but had no other notion what it was about. At first the plot is worrying because it looks like a dumb road trip movie, however the characters and plot ensure it is more than just that. The plot is basically nothing more than a device for the characters to be themselves and provide the comedy themselves rather than just trough action. The comedy does also work through actions but many of the characters are well enough written to be funny within themselves.

The acting is good on the whole. Stiller gives his usual performance that will be familiar to anyone who has seen Cable Guy, Meet The Parents etc. Arquette is OK and Leoni is sexy if pretty uninteresting. Jenkins steals every scene he is in as the uptight cop. And on that point, how very refreshing to see gay characters in a comedy who aren't flaming stereotypes! Alda, Tomlin, Tyler Moore and Segal are all hilarious in their parental roles and do much more than just provide famous faces.

Overall I found this to be very amusing if not hilarious. The plot holds up well for a road movie but it's the well written characters who carry the majority of the film easily and regularly funny even if it is a little far fetched at points.

Did not expect to laugh so much i have to say for a film that i had no idea existed and was made 24 years ago.

What got me interested was it being a David O Russell film i had not seen and his stuff i had seen was consistenly very good.

Dysfunction brought to the extreme. The line that best sums up this film would be "you come in here and lick my wife's armpit"

Excellent, cheered me right up it has!