LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Along Came Polly: Ben Stiller
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Along Came Polly is the second feature from writer-director John Hamburg, who ... had a hand in two previous Stiller hits: Zoolander and Meet the Parents. However, though the cast are excellent and there are several funny scenes, the film doesn’t quite work, frequently relying too much on gross-out humour and not enough on a decent script.
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It's just such a tendency toward the derivative that leaves "Along Came Polly" lacking any fresh romantic-comedy punch. A blind pet ferret that wreaks havoc on Stiller's attempted seductions smacks of the dog that did the same in "There's Something About Mary." A scene in which Stiller kisses up to his boss (Alec Baldwin) in the men's room recalls an awkward moment in "Brazil," and the urinal humor that drives the scene is straight out of "Austin Powers" (which was hardly the originator of such gags in the first place).
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Unfortunately, there's nothing remotely "risky" about 'Along Came Polly'. It's a rom-com by numbers and, to that end, does contain a semi-reasonable number of laughs - but it's ... completely bereft of either spark or originality. What's more, at least two of its main set-pieces are suspiciously familiar from elsewhere (a blocked toilet gag used virtually identically in 'Dumb & Dumber', and Stiller's use of a laptop to compare the attributes of ladyfriends, only for the file to be discovered by Aniston - didn't she already do that in 'Friends'?).
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Ben Stiller is either a member of Dysfunctions R Us, or else he's making a plea to be the next Woody Allen -- but even Allen himself couldn't save "Along Came Polly." What starts off as a cute idea -- an opposites attract romantic comedy a man afraid of risk falling in love with a woman who fears anything safe -- is turned insipid thanks to a poor script, mediocre performances and lazy direction by John Hamburg, in his second feature after 1998's "Safe Men."
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Screenwriter John Hamburg directs his second film (since his 1998 debut Safe Men) with the romantic comedy Along Came Polly. Ben Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a professional risk assessor who never takes chances in any aspect of his life.
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