Along Came Polly (2004)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

John Hamburg

Writer (WGA):

John Hamburg (written by)

Release Date:

16 January 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

For the most cautious man on Earth, life is about to get interesting.

Plot:

A buttoned up newlywed finds his too organized life falling into chaos when he falls in love with an old classmate.

Plot Keywords:

Honeymoon | Scuba | Love | Waitress | New York

Awards:

1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Reuben Feffer
Jennifer Aniston	...	Polly Prince
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Sandy Lyle
Debra Messing	...	Lisa Kramer
Alec Baldwin	...	Stan Indursky
Hank Azaria	...	Claude
Bryan Brown	...	Leland Van Lew
Jsu Garcia	...	Javier
Michele Lee	...	Vivian Feffer
Bob Dishy	...	Irving Feffer
Missi Pyle	...	Roxanne
Judah Friedlander	...	Dustin
Kevin Hart	...	Vic
Masi Oka	...	Wonsuk
Kym Whitley	...	Gladys (as Kym E. Whitley)

Also Known As:

Risk (USA) (working title)
Untitled John Hamburg Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, language, crude humor and some drug references.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:18SX | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-7 | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:IIA | Iceland:L | Netherlands:MG6 | Norway:A | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:NC-16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG (edited for re-rating) | Spain:7 | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40495)

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company:

Jersey Films

Trivia:

The building Leland van Lew jumps off of in Los Angeles is the AT&T Tower (611 W. 6th Street), designed by William L. Pereira in 1969 as the city's tallest skyscraper.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Reuben and Polly are at the Mid-Eastern restaurant, Reuben is perspiring profusely; his face and shirt are soaked with sweat. When they go to her apartment, his shirt is dry and seems freshly pressed.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Reuben Feffer: [practicing] I, Reuben, take you, Lisa... I, Reuben, take YOU, Lisa, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I do. I do.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Date Movie (2006)

Soundtrack:

LOST CAUSE

you'd be well advised to wait until Polly Came Along on TV

Ruben, (Ben Stiller) a risk analyst, is always cautious and takes life very seriously. However after marrying his perfect and dependable girlfriend Lisa (Debra Messing) she runs off with a scuba instructor on the first day of their honeymoon.

Ruben immediately and all too conveniently begins to date Polly (Jennifer Anniston) who's totally commitment-free and lives a chaotic lifestyle.

Along Came Polly is the sort of formulaic romantic comedy that you'll feel like you've seen a dozen times before. Notably Ruben's love for Polly compels him to radically change his lifestyle.

A similar plot device was used to infinitely better effect, more poignantly and less conveniently in As Good As It Gets and Matchstick Men.

But where in those films it's significant that the character develops as a person in the process, here it's simply played out for laughs and too many of them at gutter level. The message is consequently warped and it looses its gravitas. Anniston and Stiller, unquestionably skilled comedy actors, are never less than competent in the central roles. Whilst Phillip Seymour Hoffman is impressive in yet another supporting role, but given a superior script and direction we've seen that they can all produce so much more than this.

Although rather flimsy and crushingly predictable Along Came Polly is still funny and reasonably likable. However with so many better films currently on release, I'd suggest carefully assessing the risk of a wasted afternoon before paying.