ALONG CAME POLLY [2004] Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston ; R 12A

Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston star in this romantic comedy about two opposites that attract. Stiller plays an anally organisational non-risk taking risk assessment analyst who gets cheated on by his newly wed wife. Aniston plays a ditsy non-grounded commitment phobic that just happened to go to school with Stiller's character. Both performances are entertaining and both leads do their best to make the film work, but sadly, regretfully, it doesn't. The script is clunky, the direction is evasive, and the only thing that is actually watchable in the film, somewhat ironically, is the innocently blind ferret. One of the more obvious problems with the movie is that the characters, especially Aniston's, just aren't established properly. This results in you spending half the movie a bit confused by both their behaviour. Secondly, there just isn't any stand out funny moments. Sure, both leads are on top form, but the long and the short of it is, you can dance around in front of the camera all you want, but if you aren't given a joke to tell, you just won't make anyone laugh. The presence of A-List stars such as Alec Baldwin do make up for a few things, but even Jennifer Aniston in red hot pants just isn't enough to make this movie anything other than a disappointment. For fans of Stiller and Aniston it won't be a bad experience, but you will come out of the cinema feeling a little bit more aware than usual that you're £5 worse off. 'Along Came Polly', you really shouldn't care.

2/5