Overall, the movie manages to be funny enough and warm enough, but there are so many things lacking and missing from it that you can't help feeling frustrated when the end credits start rolling. Ben Stiller does a good job here in his usual turn as a fumbling, romantically challenged, lovable doofus. He can't escape some bathroom humor (literally), but is otherwise funny and manages to actually create a fully developed character in the film.
Jennifer Aniston is a huge disappointment. Her acting is completely uneven, in some scenes she's this scatter-brained, cute ditzy girl, while in others she's almost shrewd, and surprisingly logical for the absent-minded, free spirited person she supposedly portrays. This lack of consistency seriously spoils the film. Aniston's acting also leaves a lot to be desired. In her ditzy scenes (pouring wine at a party) she is somewhat reminiscent of her Rachel character from "Friends", from the good old days when Rachel used to work at the coffee place. But mostly she just reminded me of the Jennifer Aniston I've seen in interviews - a little distant, reserved, and stand-offish. I guess she just played herself for most of the movie. Philip S. Hoffman is the one who makes this film a comedy (along with Alec Baldwin, and the blind ferret). He's totally into his character, and makes him irritating, funny, pathetic, all very convincingly.
What I found overdone and unnecessary is the portrayal of foreigners. The French scuba diving instructor (Hank Azaria) is an idiot and a scum in one (enough with the French bashing already!), and the Australian businessman (Bryan Brown) is just a reckless idiot, whose hobby is to endanger his life and those around him. If we wonder why the rest of the world tends to have negative opinion about us, here's one of the reasons: we make them either jerks or evil in our movies. As an American living abroad I can tell you, that people do notice these things.
Jennifer Aniston is a huge disappointment. Her acting is completely uneven, in some scenes she's this scatter-brained, cute ditzy girl, while in others she's almost shrewd, and surprisingly logical for the absent-minded, free spirited person she supposedly portrays. This lack of consistency seriously spoils the film. Aniston's acting also leaves a lot to be desired. In her ditzy scenes (pouring wine at a party) she is somewhat reminiscent of her Rachel character from "Friends", from the good old days when Rachel used to work at the coffee place. But mostly she just reminded me of the Jennifer Aniston I've seen in interviews - a little distant, reserved, and stand-offish. I guess she just played herself for most of the movie. Philip S. Hoffman is the one who makes this film a comedy (along with Alec Baldwin, and the blind ferret). He's totally into his character, and makes him irritating, funny, pathetic, all very convincingly.
What I found overdone and unnecessary is the portrayal of foreigners. The French scuba diving instructor (Hank Azaria) is an idiot and a scum in one (enough with the French bashing already!), and the Australian businessman (Bryan Brown) is just a reckless idiot, whose hobby is to endanger his life and those around him. If we wonder why the rest of the world tends to have negative opinion about us, here's one of the reasons: we make them either jerks or evil in our movies. As an American living abroad I can tell you, that people do notice these things.
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