Along Came Polly

Jennifer Aniston must have been struck with serious déjà vu while filming one pivotal scene for this romantic comedy in which she discovers that a neurotic risk assessor (Ben Stiller)--whom she's been seeing since his bride dumped him on their honeymoon--has used his laptop computer to make a list of pros and cons about their relationship. Almost the exact same circumstances once led to the breakup on Friends between Aniston's Rachel and David Schwimmer's neurotic, risk-averse Ross. And it's just that tendency toward the derivative that leaves writer-director John Hamburg's (who also penned Stiller's Zoolander and Meet the Parents) Along Came Polly without any fresh romantic or comedic punch. Hamburg often sets up whole scenes for the sake of a single gross-out joke, yet he doesn't spend half that energy on developing what is actually a pretty fertile concept about an anally retentive guy who loosens up thanks to a fling with Aniston's flighty free spirit. Unfortunately, the film exploits their differences only in superficial ways, and therefore never finds the footing needed to pull off anything more satisfying than a handful of easy guffaws. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director John Hamburg, a two-minute original opening sequence with optional commentary, a 10-minute “making of” featurette, the five-minute featurette “Rodolfo Goes Hollywood” featuring animal star Rodolfo the Blind Ferret at the film's premiere, six minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary, four minutes of outtakes, extensive cast/crew bios and filmographies (star Ben Stiller's is 12 text pages!), trailers, and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a dud of a film.] (R. Blackwelder)