Along Came Polly

Ben Stiller is known for wacky characters such as White Goodman from Dodgeball, Tony Perkis in Heavy Weights, and the male model known as Derek Zoolander in Zoolander. But his other roles have been the quiet yet hysterical characters like Gaylord 'Greg' Focker in Meet the Parents and Meet the Focker's. This type of character is perfect for Stiller.

In Along Came Polly, Stiller stars as Reuben Feffer, the neurotic, slightly OCD risk-insurance salesman who looks at the outcome of a situation before getting involved. He decides whether or not a person is too much of a liability. Recently married to Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing), who on their honeymoon, decides to "get it on" with the scuba instructor (Hank Azaria). Fleeing back to the states, he meets up with his long time friend Sandy Lyle (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He was a star actor but now is a has been who tries to go back to the top. For starters, he will be headlining the community theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar...as Judas.

Now that Reuben is back, he is "free", but isn't ready for a relationship. Since he is still actually married, he decides to just lay low, until he meets an old friend from junior high. Enter Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), the free spirited, total opposite of Reuben who will flip his world upside down. Even though they seem to be on the opposite sides of the love spectrum, Reuben is crazy for her...hesitant...but still into it.

What makes this movie work is the combination of wacky humor and romance. Hoffman is hysterical as Lyle who thinks he is the cats meow. With his life being filmed for a feature on his life, Lyle is confident and even tries to be Reuben's mentor. Although they don't see eye to eye with certain issues, the two have a sort of brotherly bond that lasts thru thick and thin. Aniston is great as Polly and with the addition of Stiller, the two become a great duo, feeding off of each other's energy.

This movie is a great date flick and is even a good film to just pop in once and a while. Ben Stiller is on a roll with making movies these days and this is no exception. Along Came Polly is fantastic and worth watching. Another triumph for Stiller...and as Sandy Lyle once said, "Let it rain!"

Ben and Jen do their best to overcome an unengaging story and a lack of forward momentum in Along Came Polly. There are some decent laughs throughout, but nothing that stuck with me after the credits. It's not awful by any means, but it's pretty forgettable.

It's a romantic comedy with Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston in the main roles.

The plot is very funny and even not being totally innovative it has some different characteristics from some other romantic comedies. I enjoyed the ending of this movie, something that I usually don't in romantic comedies, and that was because of even being predictable the ending was funny!

The Anniston's character is just great. She's funny, nonsensical, but at the same time very independent and sweet. The character played by Stiller is the typical guy who wants a compromise, to be married and have kids; but he will change with her. To the point that near the end he just says: "I don't want to get married. I just want to take you to dinner, sometime this week".

I liked the plot, the jokes, the characters, and found it a very entertaining and some kind of different romantic comedy!

I saw this for free, thankfully, and wish it was better than it was, but it's really the same old stuff that movie studios seem to foist on us in the last ten years.

Ben Stiller and Jennifer Anniston play a couple who are opposites- and yet they are attracted to each other. Yes, it's an age old trope, and if that plot 'twist' doesn't take you by surprise and thrill you, the movie won't either.

Lots of sight gags and fart jokes. Halfway through the movie I began to realize that Ben Stiller really isn't that funny, but he tries VERY hard. And Jennifer Anniston really isn't that pretty, but her HAIR looks great. And Hank Azaria and Phillip Seymore Hoffman must have got paid a great deal of money to be in this kind of average ho-hum movie, I've come to expect more from them.

What was interesting was that I saw this after I saw American Splendor, which is a truly funny and original movie- and I compared the two in my head, and found myself wishing that the movie executives would be forced to sit through those two movies back to back- perhaps that would knock some sense into them and they'd start making better movies with unknowns rather than this formulaic stuff that plays best on airplanes.

The story's not overly engaging, but for some reason Along Came Polly is fun. Ben Stiller just has that knack of being able to embarass himself and we love him for it. You can't help but laugh. But the film is worth a look for Philip Seymour Hoffman, too, as the child actor still looking for recognition -- and work. The basketball court scene is great, but the best is his performance with a community theatre's production of Jesus Christ Superstar. If you've ever been in community theatre, or you've hung out with actors, you'll appreciate this.