Solid Silly RomCom

This one was a bit more dumb and crazy than most Aniston romcoms. The cast is fantastic but the script aimed pretty low. It didn’t have anything near the wit of a When Harry Met Sally, it was more toilet humour and slapstick buffoonery. I have to admit though, seeing Polly’s vision-impaired pet ferret aggressively head-butt large objects triggered involuntary belly laughs.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman steals the show in a rare comedic sidekick slob role. Aniston brings the charm, sexiness, and a bit more silliness here. Stiller is much more tolerable as the straight guy. Alec Baldwin is hilarious and dons a specific NY ‘Jewish’ voice which was a nice change. I’ve never seen Bryan Brown prat around like this and he’s great. Hank Azaria smashes it as a French nudist scuba instructor. Debra Messing is hot as Stiller’s wife. Everyone’s having fun and the movie rattles along at a good pace. It’s hard not to like.

My only issue is that the script promises something juicy about impulsivity vs prudence - you could imagine Woody Allen tackling the philosophical implications of this with much richer characters and witty dialogue - but those concerns take a back seat to blind ferrets head-butting things and someone ‘sharting’.

The com is handled with aplomb but the rom feels somewhat tacked on (that wasn’t supposed to rhyme but I think it does) Anyway, watch this film if you want to see a great cast fuck around for 90 mins.