Genre: comedy, romance

Along Came Polly

Directed and written

by John Hamburg

Starring Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston and Debra Messing

Classification: PG

Rating: **½

After Gigli, you would think no Hollywood studio would touch anything resembling a Ben-and-Jen box-office combo. When the names are Ben Stiller, the reigning comic king of discomfort and chagrin, and departing Friends star Jennifer Aniston, the risk probably looks more acceptable.

Risk is pretty much the subject of Along Came Polly, in which Stiller plays Reuben, a neurotic insurance analyst who knows the statistical dangers of everything from catching E. coli from bar nuts to falling down subway grates. What he doesn't foresee is a more immediate domestic catastrophe, when he discovers his new bride, Lisa (Debra Messing of television's Will & Grace) taking soundings with her scuba-diving teacher. The latter is played by a pumped-up, English-mangling and richly ridiculous Hank Azaria.

On the advice of his narcissistic slob friend Sandy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) Reuben goes to an art show opening where he meets the waitress, Polly (Aniston), who he knew in middle school. She's a free spirit who likes ethnic food, travel and salsa dancing, none of which agree with the habits or stomach of the oversensitive Reuben. There's a unfortunate bathroom episode (shown in the preview) which includes a $200 loofah and a blind ferret and things we've seen before in Dumb and Dumber.

Director-writer John Hamburg collaborated with Stiller before on Zoolander and Meet the Parents, though Polly isn't as erratically inspired as those two films. Polly feels like a series of loosely constructed set pieces that depend on spirited performances more than wit. There is familiar Farrelly brothers-style gagging, a lot of huffy split-ups (when Lisa blithely returns from the honeymoon) and reconciliations.

Polly also depends on the mistaken belief that Jennifer Aniston's appeal is so universally recognizable it's unnecessary to write a fully-rounded character for her. Even the very premise of Aniston as a kooky bohemian in the Annie Hall tradition seems hard to credit. Reverse the women's role -- with the mercurial Messing as the romantic flake and Aniston as the smug bride -- and Along Came Polly might find the romantic zing it's missing.

That leaves the supporting cast to carry much of the weight that's somehow missing in the centre of this romantic comedy. Along with Azaria and Messing, there's the dauntless Alec Baldwin as Reuben's boss, barking Yiddishisms from the back of his throat, and Bryan Brown blustering as an Australian daredevil and corporate executive who Reuben has to follow about on various extreme adventures to evaluate his insurability.

Above all, there's the matchless Philip Seymour Hoffman (Magnolia, Losing Lisa). Even when he's falling on his backside, talking about soiling his pants or wreaking havoc like a frat boy from American Pie, Hoffman comports himself with cockeyed gravity. He gives gross-out comedy a whole new depth.