Neil Young’s Film Lounge – Along Came Polly
ALONG CAME POLLY
4/10
USA 2004 : John HAMBURG : 90 mins
He is so good that only the best material is going to help build our sense of him. Meanwhile, search him out, as you might Kevin Spacey. There is the same very dangerous talent at work astounding, yet so pronounced it could help make its own prison.
David Thomson on Philip Seymour Hoffman
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (3rd edition, 2003)
People taking Thomsons advice and seeking out Hoffman by watching films they otherwise wouldn’t bother with will enjoy only intermittent rewards with Along Came Polly, in which PSH contributes an effortlessly entertaining sidelines turn. But his limited appearances aren’t enough to save this woefully by-the-numbers romantic comedy which shamelessly replays the ancient formula of anal-retentive man is loosened up by free-spirited woman.
Given the right casting (i.e. Hoffman as the stuffed-shirt) and direction this might just be worthwhile. But leads Ben Stiller (as Reuben, a risk-averse risk-assessor) and Jennifer Aniston (a hippyish, salsa-dancing drifter) aren’t sufficiently skilled or original to give the tired material any kind of fresh twist. And with Hamburg always taking the most Reubenish, risk-averse approach behind the camera, its left to the supporting players to keep things even borderline watchable.
The main plus is, unsurprisingly enough, a portlier-than-ever Hoffman as Reubens best friend – a mildly-obnoxious former teen movie-star fallen on hard times (and who shares his name, bizarrely, with Scots golf-champ Sandy Lyle). Then there’s Alec Baldwin as Reubens bracingly crude and no-nonsense boss and Bryan Brown as an extreme-sports-fanatic businessman seeking life-insurance. All three are underused which certainly can’t be said for Hank Azaria, distractingly buffed-up and woefully unfunny in his cameos as a randy French scuba-diving nudist.
As with Hamburgs scripts for Stillers Zoolander and Meet the Parents, the jokes are very hit-and-miss and this time they’re decidedly more miss than hit. When in doubt, Hamburg tries to milk cheap laughs by filling the soundtrack with the noisy intestinal consequences of Reubens Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or else by having Pollys elderly, near-blind pet ferret bump into things. By the end, even though special effects are used for the bumps, you do end up feeling rather sorry that the appealing little critter must endure such indignities. Philip Seymour Hoffman and his many admirers, patiently awaiting the best material, may well sympathise.
29th February, 2004
(seen 27th February : Showcase, Stockton-on-Tees)
by Neil Young
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