Phillip Seymour Hoffman nearly steals Stiller's thunder in 'Along Came Polly'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

ALONG CAME POLLY (PG-13) Two-and-a-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) A mildly amusing comedy about a wimpy insurance risk assessor (Ben Stiller) who gambles—twice — with love. Hopefully, the second time (with Jennifer Aniston) will be the winner. Philip Seymour Hoffman is funny as the best friend. John Hamburg writes and directs. Universal, 90 minutes.

That's putting it mildly. He won't grab nuts from the dish set out on a bar for fear of the hands that have already been in there. He won't walk across a sidewalk grate. He won't eat spicy food. He won't get on a boat. He won't dance.

His career as a risk assessor for a leading insurance company has taught him about all the dangers around him. And that's made him the world's biggest wimp. (He maintains he's just being cautious.) Amazingly, he found a woman willing to put up with his foibles. But on the very first night of their Caribbean honeymoon, his bride, Lisa (Debra Messing), cheats on him with a scuba instructor.

Reuben's supposedly safe marriage has even failed him.

So, the least likely thing you'd expect is for him to fall in love on the rebound with reckless free spirit Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston). But that's what he does, which is why this is a romantic comedy. And a modestly amusing one at that, even if it sometimes strains for its laughs.

Stiller is becoming an old hand at playing guys like Reuben, and knows how to get the laughs. And just as in "There's Something About Mary," and "Meet the Parents," there's another misadventure in the bathroom. (Stiller is in danger of becoming known as the definitive bathroom comic.)

Aniston is perky, utterly likeable and refreshing — a perfect and patient foil for Reuben's idiosyncratic behavior.

Stiller reunites with John Hamburg, the co-writer of two of his films, the winning "Meet the Parents" and the losing "Zoolander." "Along Came Polly" has more in common with the former than the latter — including the use of first-rate supporting players. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Hank Azaria and Bryan Brown all generate laughs for Hamburg, who also directs.

Azaria contributes another in his trademark series of foreign-accent roles, playing Claude, the French nudist scuba instructor who seduces Reuben's bride. Baldwin also performs to type as Reuben's blustery boss. And Brown portrays an overly adventurous Australian tycoon who might be a poor insurance risk.

But Hoffman is especially funny in his first mainstream Hollywood comedy.

In a performance reminiscent of the late John Belushi, he revels in his character's crudeness and bravado, and engages in an impressive series of pratfalls, along with some of the funniest inept basketball playing you'll ever see.

Hoffman is Sandy, a frustrated, would-be actor who had one moment of glory as a child star and has tried to ride on that glory ever since. As Reuben's best friend, he serves two functions: offering bad advice and eating all the greasy junk Reuben won't eat. He does both with amusing gusto.

Rated PG-13, with profanity, innuendo.