The Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter, have followed their straightforward romantic comedy Fever Pitch with a return to the zanier sort of thing they do best, or most often at any rate. This is a remake of a 1971 comedy, starring Charles Grodin, for which Neil Simon wrote the script, but no one will confuse this with a Neil Simon movie. Ben Stiller takes the lead role, doing the thing he does best, which is the regular sort of guy who gets himself in trouble by lying.
The original was partly about a guy who can’t commit, but the new version leans much more toward being about a guy who makes a bad choice. Malin Akerman is a versatile comedic actress. She’s sweet in the early scenes and crazy, but still a little sweet, in the later ones. In a typical Farellys touch, she has a deviated septum, so disgusting things come through her nose. She also gets way too sunburned, like a character in There’s Something About Mary. This has the feel of that earlier classic by the Farellys, but it’s less funny and, obviously, less original. Still, it’s fun to watch, and never mean-spirited. (Although some people will probably disagree with the latter.) Just when things seems over the top, it pulls back and has some moments that seem more or less real.
IMDB link
reviewed 10/12/07
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