i love ben stiller, usually. but one can have too much of ben stiller, if that’s even possible. duplex, envy, starsky & hutch, dodgeball… ad nauseam. too much too quickly. over. frickin’. load.

along came polly is a fun comedy, and that’s pretty much it. despite it having two of the most popular actors/comedians in leading roles, the film has neither the heart-felt romance of meet the parents nor the cult-hit longevity of zoolander. i found the relationship between the two characters pretty forced and cliché.

writer: ooh, let’s make them opposites! because “opposites attract”! no one will see that one coming! we’ll make millions! and let’s fill the script with exclamation marks so that everyone is incessantly yelling!

jennifer aniston, although earnestly avoiding being typecasted as displayed in the good girl, turns in another rachel-greene performance in her mannerisms as polly prince. i can’t say ben stiller does much to break out of the mould, either. but what can an audience expect, really?

the jokes are not terribly funny, but you do get some laughs out of the couple hours you’re sitting there, staring at your watch. unlike the people i watched along came polly with, i found philip seymour hoffman more annoying than hilarious. the one cool character in the film is claude, played by hank azaria. he’s completely ripped in this movie! plus, he’s done over a hundred different voices for the simpsons, so he gets bonus cool points.