Along Came Polly

Plot

Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller), an insurance risk assessment expert, is celebrating his honeymoon with newlywed wife, Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing), on the island of St. Barts but catches her having sex with Claude (Hank Azaria), a French scuba instructor. Returning home to New York alone, he attempts to piece his life back together. Reuben goes to an art gallery with his friend, Sandy Lyle (Philip Seymour Hoffman), where he runs into former junior high school classmate Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston).

Reuben and Polly begin dating, with her introducing him to activities he once wrote off as "too risky", such as eating at a Moroccan restaurant and salsa dancing, which culminates with the pair enthusiastically sleeping together, with Reuben shouting "50" as he orgasms. The contrast between their two personalities is a source of comedy throughout the film until Lisa returns and tells him she wants to reconcile their relationship. Meanwhile, Sandy, a self-centered, former teen idol, is trying to make a comeback by having a documentary filmed about him starring role as Judas in an amateur production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Reuben is torn between the free-spirited Polly and the safe and familiar Lisa. To solve this issue he enters information about Polly and Lisa into a computer insurance program which measures risk. The computer tells him that, despite his numerous blunders with her, Polly is the best choice for him. Polly joins Reuben on a sailing trip hes going in order to inspect Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown), a high-risk client, but gets offended when she sees his risk analysis of herself and rejects his proposal to move in together, telling him that hed be better off going back to Lisa.

Back home, Reuben tries talking to Polly but to no avail. He eventually invites Lisa to Sandys opening show, where he learns that Polly is leaving New York for Cincinnati in a few hours. After a speech given by his father, Irving (Bob Dishy), to Sandy about not living in the past, Reuben realizes he wants to be with Polly and not Lisa, and he rushes to her apartment to stop her from leaving. Polly is not convinced she should stay with him, so Reuben eats food off the ground to prove he is capable of taking risks.

Reuben and Polly go on holiday to the same beach where he and Lisa had their honeymoon. Reuben again encounters Claude, but instead of being angry he thanks Claude, and then heads into the water with Polly.

Cast

Box office

The film opened at #1 at the U.S. Box office, earning $27,721,185 USD in its opening weekend, ending the month-long reign of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Critical response

Along Came Polly received negative reviews; critics commented that Aniston and Stiller did not make a convincing couple. The film holds an approval rating of 26% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 156 reviews (40 positive, 116 negative). Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score from 1 to 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film a 44 based on 35 critics. The film was a financial success, making $172 million at the box office worldwide off a $42 million budget.

Similar Movies

Jennifer Aniston appears in Along Came Polly and Picture Perfect. Jennifer Aniston appears in Along Came Polly and The Break-Up. Jennifer Aniston appears in Along Came Polly and The Switch. Debra Messing appears in Along Came Polly and The Wedding Date. Jennifer Aniston appears in Along Came Polly and Shes the One.

Accolades

Ben Stiller earned a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor for his performance in the film (as well as for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Envy and Starsky and Hutch).