“Along Came Polly”
By Leslie Branton, Revelry Writer
“Along Came Polly” seemed funny in its previews, but fell flat in its entirety. Ben Stiller (“Meet the Parents”) plays Reuben Feffer, a stereotypical neurotic Jewish man with an overbearing mother. He analyzes risk for a living and has everything neatly planned.
The trouble starts when his new wife, Lisa (Debra Messing), leaves him on their honeymoon for scuba instructor Claude (Hank Azaria). Reuben returns to New York and his unusual career when he runs into Polly (Jennifer Aniston), whom he knew in junior high.
Aniston plays a free spirited, noncommittal waitress; at times her performance seemed just like her character Rachel on “Friends,” but with less money. Her character lacks the depth and development and so she mainly comes off as a sweet, absent-minded woman.
Supporting characters Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Alec Baldwin are given a minimal amount of screen time and when they are, it seems to have little relationship to the actual plot.
The plot is a basic romantic comedy cliché: a neurotic man meets a free-spirited woman and then must choose between the new woman and the one who hurt him. The predictable ending is sappy and filled with all the clichés about taking risks.
January’s dearth of new releases leaves moviegoers few options. This movie plays on its sophomoric toilet humor, a sweaty fat man and bad dancing, for its big laughs. Stiller and Aniston play the same roles they always play and so they lack the chemistry needed in such a movie.
While there are worse movies out there, expectations of this movie should be kept at a minimum.
C+
“Chasing Liberty”
By Natalie Naquin, Revelry Writer
“Chasing Liberty,” starring Mandy Moore as a defiant teenage daughter of the President of the United States, is hardly anything to chase after.
Anna Foster, played by Moore, has had enough of being followed by Secret Service agents everywhere she goes. After 6 years in the White House and a date turned sour, she decides that she has had enough.
On a presidential-family tour of Europe, Anna manages to escape from her family and secret service agents and hitches a ride with the first person she sees, the young, attractive Ben Calder (Matthew Goode).
She finally gets a taste of freedom, “Roman Holiday” style. The twist is that she does not know he is a Secret Service agent assigned to keep after her.
Their adventures take them all over the world, and somewhere along the way they fall in love.
Mandy Moore is charming as the first daughter, as she is in all of her movies, but once again, it is impossible to take her character seriously.
She acts immature throughout the entire movie. For instance, her family does not give her enough freedom, so she runs away. Her love interest does not feel the same way, so she runs away. She finally finds out that her love interest does feel the same way but is a Secret Service agent, so she runs away. All this running away makes the viewer want to do the same.
Directed by Andy Cadiff, “Chasing Liberty” is a cheesy take on the classic “Roman Holiday” story. Instead of wasting time and money seeing this, rent the original instead.
C-