Along Came Polly

Along Came Polly
Film poster
Directed by John Hamburg
Produced by Danny DeVito
Michael Shamberg
Stacey Sher
Written by John Hamburg
Starring Ben Stiller
Jennifer Aniston
Debra Messing
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Hank Azaria
Bryan Brown
Alec Baldwin
Music by Theodore Shapiro
Cinematography Seamus McGarvey
Edited by William Kerr
Nick Moore, Marie-Lee
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • January 16, 2004 (2004-01-16) (United States)
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $42 million
Box office $173 million[1]

Along Came Polly is a 2004 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg, starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston in the lead roles. The story follows Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller), a tightly-wound newly-wed who finds his life falling into chaos when he discovers his wife cheating on him with a scuba diver on their honeymoon and then quickly finds himself falling in love with his old classmate, Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston). The movie made a gross of $88,097,164 in the US.

Plot

Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller), a risk analyst for life insurance, 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". This included eating at a Moroccan restaurant which ends badly due to Reuben's IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome). Luckily, Polly gives him a second chance where they end up salsa dancing and later enthusiastically having sex 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 his 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 least risky choice for Reuben. Polly joins Reuben on a sailing trip where he is to inspect Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown), a high-risk client, but she is offended when she sees his risk analysis of her. She rejects his proposal to move in together, telling him that he would be better off going back to Lisa.

Back home, Reuben tries talking to Polly, but to no avail. He eventually invites Lisa to Sandy's 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 vacation on the same beach where he and Lisa had their honeymoon. Reuben again encounters Claude, but instead of being angry, he thanks Claude before heading into the water with Polly to join Van Lew on his new boat.

Cast

Reception

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.[2]

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 25% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 159 reviews (40 fresh, 119 rotten).[3] 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.[4] The film was a financial success, making $172 million at the box office worldwide off a $42 million budget.[5]

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 & Hutch).

Along Came Polly
Soundtrack album by Theodore Shapiro
Released 2004
Genre Score
Label Universal Records
Theodore Shapiro chronology
View from the Top
(2003)		 Along Came Polly
(2004)		 Starsky & Hutch
(2004)

Soundtrack

All tracks written by Theodore Shapiro.

No.TitleLength

Additional music by:

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Don't You (Forget About Me)"Simple Minds4:23
2."Everything's Alright" 3:46
3."Hey Mama"The Black Eyed Peas3:34
4."Hey Sexy Lady"Shaggy ft. Brian Thompson, Tony Gold]] and Sean Paul3:20
5."Jamming"Bob Marley3:47
6."Let's Do It Again"The Staple Singers3:26
7."Luve Me, Luve Me"Shaggy ft. Samantha Cole3:29
8."What's the Buzz" 2:19
9."Represent, Cuba"Orishas3:42
10."Heaven on Their Minds" 4:06
11."Let My Love Open the Door"Pete Townshend 
Total length:35:52

References

  1. ↑ "Along Came Polly (2004) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  2. ↑ Kaufman, Gil (January 20, 2004). "'Along Came Polly' ... And Down Went The 'King'". MTV Movie News. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
  3. ↑ "Along Came Polly (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  4. ↑ Along Came Polly, retrieved 2018-05-13
  5. ↑ "Along Came Polly". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
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