'Polly' not a risky venture to theatre

Reel Reflections

Ben Stiller would argue that the risk of not enjoying "Along Came Polly" certainly is less than 25 percent.

And I'd have to agree.

Although this romantic comedy is generic in its roots — boy meets girl, boy and girl overcome obstacles, they live happily ever after — it still is able to muster up a few laughs.

Reuben Feffer (Stiller, "The Royal Tenenbaums") is a risk-assessment analyst at a New York City insurance company. Reuben's life is characterized by trusting only the safest choices possible — he literally makes decisions based on what his laptop dictates.

However, his predictably dull world collapses on his honeymoon, when his wife Lisa (Debra Messing, "The Mothman Prophecies") sleeps with a French scuba diving instructor and leaves Reuben with a broken heart and brand-new empty house.

Then along comes Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston, "Bruce Almighty"), who turns Reuben's world upside down with her noncommittal lifestyle and taste for spicy food. Soon, Reuben finds himself salsa dancing with a gay Spanish man to claim Polly's heart.

It is a story of how opposites attract — Reuben's conservative habits are thrown out of whack by Polly's rambunctious doings, but eventually he comes to enjoy it. Polly, on the other hand, never has made a committment in her life. (The first time she calls Reuben to invite him on a date, she backs out two seconds later.) When Reuben plans a business trip, however, Polly unconsciously agreed to tag along — gasp, she made a committment.

If it were not for the casting of Stiller and Aniston, "Along Came Polly" probably would have flopped. But, Stiller plays the role he does often — the goofy boyfriend who, despite his semi-geeky looks, wins the beautiful girl and charms the audience — and does it well. Similar to his roles in "Meet the Parents" and "There's Something About Mary," Stiller's weird antics and believable naivety render him the perfect man for a romantic comedy.

"Friends" star Aniston has been making her way more into the film industry while slowly sliding away from television. While it still is difficult to picture Aniston as anything other than the chic, fun-loving Rachel, she manages to fit the guise of an off-the-wall, sporadic woman who owns a pet ferret and moves all over the country at the drop of a hat. Her personality may be similar to that in "Friends," but it seems to be the character description that fits her best.

It is easy to topple a decent comedic story line without the right characters, but director and writer John Hamburg ("Meet the Parents") found the two actors who pulled it off.

Hamburg is all-too-famous for his crude humor movies, and "Along Came Polly" is just another to add into the mix. From premature ejaculation to diarrhea, this movie has got it all.

But don't go running out to the movies yet in hopes of viewing the next "Forrest Gump" or "Titanic." "Along Came Polly" may have its fair share of humor and a thin-framed love story, but it is nothing more than a light piece to buoy up someone's dull day. While it is difficult to say the movie's television commercials spoil the full-length film, it would not be an understatement to admit that the previews capture the film's best parts. Then again, what film trailer in this genre doesn't?

Reuben's laptop would be right on target if it matched "Along Came Polly" in the "safe" category for a fun flick. Much safer, at least, than eating peanuts from a local bar — did you know that only one out of every six people wash their hands after going to the bathroom? Polly was disgusted, too, yet that didn't stop her from scarfing down the peanuts. Therefore, the small setback of a stereotypical boy-meets-girl story shouldn't stop the audience from enjoying it, either.