Along Came Polly

By PETER CALDER

(Herald rating: * * *)



The odd-couple romantic comedy depends entirely on the chemistry between its two leads. That's why people still rent The African Queen and It Happened One Night.

Sadly, there is precious little electricity sparking between the two stars of this film, but it still manages to be moderately charming and has some fine laugh-out-loud moments.

The problem is that few of them involve Stiller, who is nowhere near as funny as he and this film think he is.

The luckless loser act that was so good in Flirting With Disaster looks thin and ingratiating now and he's hopelessly outpunched by his co-stars.

The film's appeal resides in Hoffman's show-stealing supporting role as a self-regarding actor and in Aniston's performance in the title role: I loved her in Object of My Affection six years ago and in The Good Girl and her charming work here confirms there is lots of life beyond Friends.

Stiller is Reuben Feffer, an uptight insurance assessor who is married, cuckolded on his honeymoon and heartbroken in the first five minutes.

Back in New York he takes an unlikely shine to Polly Prince, a dreamy, Bohemian waitress who is always losing her keys and pouring red wine into glasses half filled with white.

It's a promising set-up but Hamburg, who wrote the film, crams it with comic ideas that go nowhere.

They feel like gags jotted down on napkins and poked into the script wherever he could find room, whether they worked or not.

The result is a film that drags when it should fly.

Hamburg, it transpires, wrote the Stiller vehicles Meet The Parents and Zoolander, too. Someone should tell the star it's time for a change.

Certainly he should have seen the warning lights when he read the scene involving the blocked toilet, the ferret and the loofah.

Cast: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman,

Director: John Hamburg

Running time: 90 mins

Rating: M (sex scenes).

Screening: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas.