Judging from his first film, Spanking the Monkey, and this dysfunctional comedy, writer/director David O. Russell has some serious family issues to resolve. Ben Stiller stars as Mel Coplin, who embarks on a cross-country odyssey to find his biological parents. Flirting With Disaster is refreshingly unpredictable, bracingly bizarre and keenly acted by a peerless ensemble that includes Tea Lioni as the addled psychologist recording the trip, Patricia Arquette as Mel's increasingly disenchanted wife, Mary Tyler Moore as Mel's breast-flashing mother and Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda as a new age couple. And I haven't even mentioned the two gay FBI agents who tag along. Perhaps the film's best line: "You are not bed and breakfast people." Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)[DVD Review--June 1, 2004--Miramax, 93 min., R, $19.99--Making its second appearance on DVD, the 1996 Flirting With Disaster: Collector's Series edition features a five-minute “original featurette” making-of segment, three deleted scenes (5 min.), “humorous mistakes” (a.k.a. outtakes) from the film (7 min.), and brief outtakes from the deleted scenes. Bottom line: not nearly enough extras to warrant upgrading if you already own the original.]
Flirting With Disaster
(Miramax, 92 min., R, avail. Mar. 25) Vol. 12, Issue 2
Flirting With Disaster
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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