ALONG CAME POLLY

[thompsoncory]

"For the most cautious man on earth, life is about to get interesting"

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0343135/JHCV1552x1040_JHK0174-19.jpg

Plot Summary: Reuben Feffer rarely takes chances and has made a career out of avoiding risk. But after discovering his wife's infidelities on his honeymoon, he decides to take a walk on the wild side by asking crazy and free-spirited Polly out on a date. Sparks fly, and Reuben soon discovers that Polly's out-of-control lifestyle is turning his world upside down

Directed by: John Hamburg (Safe Men)

Starring: Ben Stiller (Meet The Parents), Jennifer Aniston (Bruce Almighty), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Punch-Drunk Love), Debra Messing (The Mothman Prophecies), Alec Baldwin (The Cooler), Hank Azaria (America's Sweethearts), Bryan Brown (Cocktail), Missi Pyle (Bringing Down The House)

Written by: John Hamburg (Meet The Parents)

Rated: PG-13 (for sexual content, language, crude humor and some drug references)

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Release Date: January 16th, 2004

---------------------

This looks very funny and I love all the actors involved. I will be seeing this.

[sharkstank]

the trailer made me laugh , and it has a great cast.
this is gonna be the first "2004" movie i see in theatres (oir at all for that matter)

WWWWWHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Mike]

The trailer actually did make me laugh when I saw it in front of Love Actually, along with the entire audience. Plus, I really like Jennifer Aniston. Her and her ferret are the main reason I'll see it :D. Although I hope there's not a bunch of "blind ferret getting hurt" jokes like the trailer somewhat suggests. That would be kind of cruel and not that funny.

Also, at the IMDB, this is the plot summary used:

A man who's afraid of risk (Stiller), but makes a living analyzing risk ends up getting involved in a risky romance (Aniston), cheating on his new wife (Messing), which turns his stable life upside-down. Sense a theme? (Hoffman plays Stiller's best friend; Baldwin plays his boss; Brown plays a sky-diving, bungee-jumping "adrenaline junkie" seeking a life insurance policy; Silpa plays the director of a play who comes into conflict with Hoffman's character; Azaria plays a French scuba instructor who flirts with Messing's character while she and Stiller's character are on their honeymoon; Michele Lee plays Stiller's mother and Dishy plays her husband.)

I didn't think Stiller was cheating on Messing's character, they make it look like she cheats on him and then they end it before he even starts seeing Polly. I hope the trailer wasn't misleading and it's really where he's still together with his wife and seeing Aniston on the side. That would kind of suck, but I highly doubt Messing's character would be very likable, so it wouldn't be all that big of a deal when he obviously ends up with Polly.


Anyway, I doubt I'll see it in theaters. I'll check it out on video for sure though. I still bet this one will get some pretty bad reviews, but I think I'll probably enjoy it.

[Moviefan1234]

This looks fair. Comedies really aren't my thing, but I found myself chuckling at scenes from the trailer. Probably worth a rent.

[Horror whore]

I think this looks like a really cute romantic comedy.... My friends and I already have plans to see it next weekend, along with Torque and Big Fish.

I really hope it's as funny as the trailer makes it look.

[blankpage]

It could be an early January surprise. I love Stiller and Aniston, too. But, it could be this years 'Bruce Almighty'.

[Pumpkinhead]

Looks pretty shitty, IMO. I couldn't find anything particularly funny in the trailer, and maybe it's just the presence of Ben Stiller, but it seems to me like the movie is trying waaaaaaay too hard to be There's Something About Mary.

[Sublime]

I think it looks actually pretty good. It's got a great trailer and a great cast. I'll be sure to check this out next week.

[Strider]

No thanks. "Along Came Polly" looks like one of those mediocre comedies that shows all the supposedly "funny" scenes in the trailer. And the trailer didn't make me laugh once. I may give the film a chance on DVD, but not the theater.

[Nate6]

Depends. My reaction is either identical to blankpage's, or identical to Strider's, depending on the time of day. Could be surprising, but could suck. We'll see.

[HHH123007]

I think it looks hilarious....I hope it delivers as many laughs as Meet The Parents (8/10) did. (A movie that it looks just like IMO)

[Tweek]

Wow. "There's Something About Mary" really DID make an impact. A ton of comedies since then have been compared to it or accused of "ripping it off"

[EDsoulsurvive*]

ehhh. I don't know. Aniston can be hilarious and she's hot as hell, but this flick looks so-so to me. I'll see it eventually, but not over Torque, which will b getting my money this weekend.

[Fisting Ackbar]

I like Ben Stiller although I'm not too excited about this. I'll wait with forming an opinion till I read more reviews of it.

[Congerific]

Am i the only one who doesn't find ben stiller funny at all. i have hated every POS movie he has made. The only funny movies he has done was funny not because of him but b/c of his costars, i.e. something about mary: i just can't get matt dillon's smiley grin out of my mind, meet the parents: jinxy cat, jinxy cat, i love you !!

I must say i don't think i will ever see anything with this idiot ever. don't even get me started on mystery men, zoolander, duplex, and the horrible cable guy.

im out

[XCoRyX]

this looks very lame...ill be passing on this one for sure...im sick of seeing these comedies over and over again....

[jolanar]

Stiller needs to do something original for a change. All his movies are the same thing over and over again. It's just him being put in embarissing situations.

That being said, this looks pretty funny and Ill probably check it out on dvd.

[gspawn]

Prediction: 6/10
Worth seeing if you have a date or just like comedies, but no better/words than any other generic relationship comedy.
I'm not seeing it until HBO.

[MovieMan75]

I want to see it for Ben Stiller and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but I don't want to see it for Jennifer Aniston and the potentially bad screenplay.

[spacemonkey]

Stiller doing what his good at. Insecure, nervous dudes.

Im going to go see it today probably so I hope its as funny as the previews lead me to believe.

That scene in the basketball court with the hairy guy...funny! And stiller dancing and crashing into the band....LOL!

[Haddonfield]

Ill be seeing this one soon. I have a good feeling about it. I think it will surprise me.

[MovieMan75]

I also just found out that Alec Baldwin and Hank Azaria in it...so now I don't know what to think. See it? Skip it? See it? Skip it?

[Scooter]

Definatly a must see! Stiller and Hoffman are absolutely hilarious. Hoffman steals the show with classic dialogue. He really plays the one hit wonder perfectly. Stiller has played this role before... and he excels at it once again. anniston plays her part well... but she isn't really that funny.... alec baldwin is in very few scenes... but when he spoke the audience responded with laughter. THe movie was great 8/10

[bowieee]

Loved this film.

I'm such a sucker for stupid comedies. :)

[thompsoncory]

I'm seeing it today. I'll post my thoughts later.

[Lynn Minmei]

7/10

Good, fairly non-offensive fair.


Heck, I could even imagine Mike liking it (The cheap ferret joke is used sparingly).

[thompsoncory]

It was a very sweet and funny movie if you don't mind some gross-out humor. Jennifer Aniston stole the show as Polly and made me believe she has huge potential for a great career after "Friends." Ben Stiller is also funny in it and it has some of the charm of "Meet The Parents" as well as some of "There's Something About Mary." A good above-average January comedy.

8/10 (B+)

[ANavissi500]

This was my first film of 2004. I hope and pray that this movie is not a reflection of things to come. The film was nothing original. Ben Stiller plays the same character that he plays in every movie, Jennifer Anniston plays a Rachel Greene with commitment issues, and Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a really fat, pathetic guy (but he did provide the ONLY moments of laughter - which were few, I assure you) I really respect Hoffman and he really kind of brought it down a notch for this. Debra Messing is a total bitch in the film and the fact that Ben Stiller even considers for a moment getting back with her made me lose interest in his character's outcome. Hank Azaria and Alec Baldwin are both painfully unfunny (although I most commend Azaria for buffing up - he usually plays a really scrawny guy) The plot was nothing new, the jokes were dumb, Stiller's neuroses were annoying, not funny and charming. I expected a lot more with such a notable cast. 2/10

[idealdiscountdude]

Along Came Polly would be a decent rental but as far as a filmgoing experience is concerned, it is not worth the $8 bucks.

I must admit that the film did have some laughs and chuckles, but I also groaned quite a bit to.

The biggest laugh for me was the scene at the Latin Club in which Reuben (Ben Stiller) shows off his newly acquired dance moves to Polly (Jennifer Aniston). The scene is hilarious because the two actors are obviously having so much fun doing it. "...Polly's" strongest attribute is that Stiller and Aniston have real, genuine chemistry together.

Another great attribute the film has is Ben Stiller. Even in crap, he is still fun to watch. It's his facial expressions that always get me chuckling.

However Along Came Polly IMO was a mixture of all of Stiller's comedies
and the film felt like a been there/seen that three zillion times before.

Along Came Polly is just so formulaic that I wondered why Stiller, who has played this role a zillion times already, would do it again. And the very talented Jennifer Aniston who is good with what little I found she had to work with here, why did she take on the role? It is honestly a nothing role IMO.

Another problem I had with the film was the toilet humor. I am absolutely sick and tired of shit/fart/sweat/diarrhea/barf jokes. Its become such a prevalent part of comedies these days and Im sick to death of it.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is my other problem. This man has got to be one of the most overrated actors in Hollywood. The man annoys the hell out of me and is nothing special as an actor. His character was just plain annoying.

What I would absolutely love to see is for Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston to make some better film choices as this film is honestly below what they are capable of.

I seriously long for a smart, intelligent romantic comedy. Love, Actually, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, ...these films worked. They had some intelligence and did not stoop to immture gags to get big laughs like 99% of all rom-coms these days.

It seems like I just totally crapped on "....Polly". Honestly it is not a bad film, just one that is so mediocre and formulaic that it irked me. It is indeed entertaining and Stiller and Aniston are great together.

A rental...not worth the $8 bucks in cinemas.

C

[AceD]

I'd say 7/10. There were a lot of funny sequences, but the story...sucked. Now I wasn't expecting a complex plot, but I hate it when it seems like the screenwriter(s) just didn't work too hard. With any other actors the movie would have been terrible. But I love Stiller and I think Jennifer Aniston is just adorable. I laughed a lot and enjoyed it, but walked out a little unsatisfied. Nonetheless, the movie was worth my money, didn't do anything too offensive or our of the ordinary, and showed me a good time for the most part. That's more than I can say about a lot of movies.

Also.....Am I the only one who thought that Phillip Seymour Hoffman's part was clearly written with Jack Black in mind? He and Stiller are friends, and maybe at one time they talked about it, but then Black backed out? If it wasn't written for him, Hoffman still did a fine job of ripping Jack Black's style off. Generally I like Hoffman, but he was a bit much here. Hank Azaria was a riot, though.

[dellamorte dellamore]

I seriously long for a smart, intelligent romantic comedy. Love, Actually, Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, ...these films worked. They had some intelligence and did not stoop to immture gags to get big laughs like 99% of all rom-coms these days.

Don't forget About a Boy

A rental...not worth the $8 bucks in cinemas.



That's exactly how i feel , but i'll go a little further , it's a FREE rental , after youv'e rented enough good ones for the video store to throw you a bone

[RogueSpear]

Pretty forgettable romantic comedy. Ben Stiller plays the same character he has in every other one of his movies and it just wasn't very funny. Philip Seymour Hoffman was annoying.

6/10

[HHH123007]

Saw it this afternoon....

Phillip Seymour Hoffman was ace, the rest of the movie was as flat as a year old Coke. It also made me feel the wrong way about the characters involved....it made me feel sorry for Debra Messing's character even though she was supposed to be bad? (Yes, that's a question.)

**1/2 or (5/10)

I have a feeling this will be my average score for the movies of 2004....quite sad.

[spacemonkey]

I thought that it was a very by the numbers romantic comedy.

Nothing new here, everything been done before.

Some instances where very funny though. Toilet humor like the one we see here was allready done exactly the same way and funnier in Dumb and Dumber. It was practically the same scene, word for word, fart by fart. Jeez.

Stillers doing his thing, same character his done before in many films, you know, a likable clutz.

Phillip Seymour was a highlight of the film with great lines like:

Phillip Seymour: "We have to get out of here, I sharted!"

Ben Stiller: "What?"

Phillip Seymour: "I farted and the shit came out!"


Anyhows, it made me laugh a few times, but was defeneatly something I would only see on a date or a rental.

[Kastman]

Originally posted by Congerific
Am i the only one who doesn't find ben stiller funny at all. i have hated every POS movie he has made. The only funny movies he has done was funny not because of him but b/c of his costars, i.e. something about mary: i just can't get matt dillon's smiley grin out of my mind, meet the parents: jinxy cat, jinxy cat, i love you !!

I must say i don't think i will ever see anything with this idiot ever. don't even get me started on mystery men, zoolander, duplex, and the horrible cable guy.

im out

sorry to be nit-picky but isnt jim carrey the cable guy...


as for the movie it was pretty good 7/10, phillip seymour hoffman was funny, though he was really trying to be Jack Black in this movie, and if jack black was cast as that character, he would have done pretty much everything exactly the same i think.

[Fisting Ackbar]

Originally posted by Kastman
sorry to be nit-picky but isnt jim carrey the cable guy...

He indeed was, yet Stiller also starred in that movie - plus directed it as well.

[blankpage]

Along Came Polly (7/10)


Starring: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Anniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin
Directed by: John Hamburg
Rated: PG-13 (for sexual content, language, crude humour, and some drug references)


Story: A risk assessment agent falls in love for a flaky woman who is the complete opposite of him. This all comes after his wife cheats on him with a scuba diver.


Review: I’ve noticed in many Ben Stiller comedies that the main character, mainly being Stiller, always ends up in awkward and sticky situations. It makes the audience laugh-out-loud, but it also makes them shake their heads. Some of them are so unbelievable and odd, you cringing in sympathy for him. But, like I mentioned before, it makes us laugh. Ben Stiller is one of those guys who has a gift for humour. His résumé is strong; with the minor exception of ‘Zoolander’. He was a flare for comedy, and even improve. So, why be sketchy about ‘Along Came Polly’? Well, to be honest, after seeing the film, I don’t know. Many of these comedies are just flat. Sure, there are about 3 good ones that come out during the year, but this just didn’t look like one of them to me. It was getting some strong buzz, and fellow film buff Indiana Sev (of Joblo.com) and Joblo himself, had given it a strong rating. Reviews on the internet were mixed, many good ones, some bad ones. My opinion was still a bit low. Sure, it could’ve been a strong comedy, or, it could’ve been like one of last year’s biggest disappointments (for me, anyways), ‘Bruce Almighty’ (also starring Anniston...a curse? No). I had seen this film two weeks after its original release. I had seen all the T.V. spots, a few clips, and enough reviews. Usually, that ruins the movie. Not in this case. When I walked out of ‘Along Came Polly’, I came out with a smile, and was very impressed with this strong comedy.

Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show without a doubt. I’ve loved this guy back in his ‘Magnolia’ days, and has always been a personal favourite. He’s a character actor (like his character in the film...wow, ironic puns throughout..) and he can do just about anything. Including comedy. From his first scene where he used physical humour to his advantage, this guy had me in stitches. I’d pay to see the film again (I won’t be doing that.. schedule doesn’t allow it) just to see this guy again. He’ll obviously be overlooked come Oscar time, but he’s going to be strong for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in my books. Of course he didn’t carry out the whole movie on his back, but he could’ve easily have. This role of loser/best friend was just great. I also have to give another big shout out to Alec Baldwin. When Hoffman wasn’t stealing the show...Baldwin was. He plays Stiller’s Boston-type, hard knox, and wildly strange boss. His accent has me laughing until I cried. The way he carried himself around and presented himself was just hysterical. I loved how he showed up at the right moments. Hank Azaria also makes a hilarious cameo as the sexy French cheater/lover.

I’m in love with Jennifer Anniston so nothing really changed after this movie. She plays the flaky/unaware role well. She was winning my heart...and other stuff too. She was great, and that’s all there is about that. And while I’m at it, I’m going to have to mention the ferret Rudolpho. The ladies will find him cute as hell, and the guys will find him cool and funny as hell. Being a fan of animals, my opinion was split on both sides. There you have it, my first review to talk about a ferret, and even give some praise towards him.


My complaints toward the film are as followed. Although it had some cleverness to it, it followed a VERY cliched formula towards a comedy. I’d expect it from a romantic comedy, so it really doesn’t matter. Some of the characters that popped up here and there (that doesn’t include Baldwin or Hoffman) become rather annoying. They serve no use to the story. One of them is used for a ‘twist’ or a ‘oh no’ sort of thing. The film ended up being fairly predictable...despite having a little smile on my face. One of the long-running jokes just really didn’t cut it for me. What could’ve been a hilarious and awkward scene just turned out to be an “oh well” situation. There were other scenes that I really didn’t need to see, as they didn’t serve much of a purpose, other than a time-filler.


A good way to describe this film is a ‘date movie’. I didn’t have one, but it still didn’t ruin it for me. ‘Along Came Polly’ is a surprisingly funny film, that is cute and harmless. While it could’ve been a fantastic comedy like ‘Meet the Parents’ it plays it safe and doesn’t overstay its welcome. This is a fun film that makes you think why there can’t be more than one of these in the month of January.

[paul]

I'm seeing this Tuesday afternoon, I don't really have high expectations for it, but I hope I like it.

[MadsenOMC]

I must admit to liking it more than I expected to. The trailer made me want to puke. The more I saw it, the worse I thought this looked. I don't think the romance worked at all. I did not buy for one single second that she would like him. Not even a little. And he keeps making an ass of himself, and she calls him and likes him anyway. Not buying it. That aspect is ridiculous, even for something in this genre. I absolutely love Hoffman, but the guy who was reminded of Jack Black is dead on. It felt like a pale Black impersonation the entire time. To be fair, I did laugh a lot more than I expected to. Still, nothing special and not worth full price. Would make a solid rental when you just want something to not think about on a cold winter evening.