Along Came Polly

What’s the Story?

Reuben (Ben Stiller) evaluates risk for a living. When he marries Lisa (Debra Messing), he thinks he has a sure thing. But on the first day of their honeymoon she falls for a scuba instructor, and he returns home alone to an apartment filled with unopened wedding gifts. He runs into Polly (Jennifer Anniston), a childhood friend, and he asks her out. Can a guy who spends eight minutes a day just putting away and taking out the decorative throw pillows for his bed find happiness with a non-planner, a risk-taker, an exotic-food-lover, and a key-loser? More important, how many excruciatingly embarrassing moments will we have to share with Reuben before we find out? Some of the many "ewwwwwwwwwwww" moments in ALONG CAME POLLY include an almost-blind ferret that keeps slamming into walls and Reuben's constant struggle to hold in various bodily functions, from controlling his irritable bowel syndrome when he eats ethnic food to maintaining his sexual stamina when he becomes overexcited the first time he and Polly make love.

Is It Any Good?

If all of this strikes you as funny, then you probably don't get out much, and this may be the movie for you when you do. But you will still have to sit through a lot of dull filler subplots that waste the talents of the stars, including Reuben's self-centered and obnoxious childhood friend (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a has-been actor still clinging to his one successful appearance in a John Hughes-style teen movie, salsa lessons, and a client prospect (Bryan Brown) who likes to jump off buildings and swim with sharks.

The characters are overly generic, especially Reuben's kvetching mother (Michelle Lee) and silent but deep father (Bob Dishy). Hank Azaria is wasted as a naked scuba instructor with a Pepe LePew accent. None of the characters are anything other than narrative conveniences and so it is impossible to care what happens to them.