Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston star in a by-the-numbers romantic comedy that shows some early promise, but ultimately sags due to an absence of chemistry between the leads and a surprising shortage of crisp comedy. Surprising since “Along Came Polly” was helmed by John Hamburg — who co-wrote the very funny films “Meet The Parents” and “Zoolander” — and boasts an impressive cast of talented cutups. At least Hamburg was smart enough to give his prime-time players the space they needed to (nearly) make lemonade out of this lemon.
Reuben Feffer (Stiller) is one of the leading risk assessors in the insurance business and, as such, is not a guy disposed to taking chances... ever. From the get-go, it’s clear he’s destined for a comfortable, yet, unremarkable existence in the ’burbs with his new wife, Lisa (Debra Messing). But when Lisa cheats on him on their honeymoon with a nudist scuba instructor (Hank Azaria), Reuben is thrust back into the dating world where — displaying remarkable resiliency — he instantly meets and begins courting pretty, but punchy Polly Prince (Aniston). This is the second romantic comedy, following her stellar performance in the drama “The Good Girl,” in which Aniston is hamstrung by a dreadfully underwritten role. Whereas we can easily identify Reuben as the perennial fall guy, since it’s a character Stiller revisits with wearisome regularity, we are never given a sense of who Polly is, why she’s such a flake, and what in the world she sees in Reuben. This inscrutability is the primary culprit behind the aforementioned lack of magnetism — a disastrous shortcoming in a genre that demands, above all else, that we feel the love.
Still, Jen and Ben are eminently watchable stars, and receive commendable support from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Alec Baldwin as, respectively, Reuben’s ex-teen movie star best friend and his philandering boss. And there are a few decent laughs to be had throughout. Many people will certainly appreciate the film’s unwavering commitment to romantic comedy conventions, right down to the part when they cue the syrupy strains of Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open The Door,” and Reuben gets the girl. (Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language, crude humor and some drug references. Running time: 90 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 16, 2004. Read the original PDF.