Along Came Polly

If there was a factory that mass-produced romantic comedies, the result would look a lot like Along Came Polly. This Ben Stiller-Jennifer Aniston comedy is nothing more than a ho-hum, mind-numbing 90 minutes, with few laughs and even fewer moments that havent already been given away by the trailer. Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, an insurance risk assessor dumped on his honeymoon when his wife (Debra Messing) has an affair with a scuba instructor (Hank Azaria).The jilted Reuben returns home, not sure if he will ever love again, until he bumps into former junior high classmate Polly (Aniston). Reuben is immediately smitten with Polly and asks her on a date and discovers a risky, free-spirited woman who is everything that he tries to avoid. The result is a lot of gags, many seen in the ads, that put the already neurotic Reuben into some very uncomfortable positions. The problem is Stiller has played this type of character so many times, there is not even a hint of freshness in any of the gags. The film was written and directed by John Hamburg, who helped co-write the vastly overrated Meet the Parents and the somewhat overrated Zoolander with Stiller. You can tell in Polly that Stiller and Hamburg must be pretty good friends, because the director does nothing to challenge his actor into stretching his talent. Even Aniston, so interesting in The Good Girl, cant save the picture. There is just something about her character that never seems right and only hinders the fact that youd ever think these two people would get together. The supporting cast fares much better. Alec Baldwin has a few nice scenes as Reubens boss and Bryan Brown has a few good moments as an eccentric tycoon seeking a life insurance policy. But its Phillip Seymour Hoffman who gets the films biggest laughs as Reubens friend Sandy, a former child star who can only find work now at a Hells Kitchen Public Theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Hoffman is so interesting that his character deserves his own film. I really wanted to know what was next for a man so arrogant about his past glory that he believes he should play Judas and Jesus Christ. Its like getting a glimpse of what the film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star should have been. Sadly, nothing else even comes close to Hoffman, making Along Came Polly yet another January release that wont even get a second glance come February. Sportswriter/movie reviewer Micheal Compton, whose idea of a romantic comedy is somewhere between The Silence of the Lambs and Shrek, can be reached for comment by e-mailing at mcompton@bgdailynews.com