Polly filler

The first rule of romantic comedy is that the audience has to want the two leading characters to end up together.

The second is that the audience must like them as individuals. And the third is that the film has to be funny.

The writer-director of Along Came Polly disregards all three rules, and thinks that a couple of stars and a lot of gross-out lavatory jokes are enough to make a boxoffice hit.

As it turns out, he's right; but that doesn't make Along Came Polly a good film. In fact, it's one of the worst romantic comedies to have come out of Hollywood in a long time. The only reason the movie's been a hit in the States is due to the popularity of Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston.

Stiller plays an insurance risk expert who tries to run his life avoiding unnecessary risks, with disastrous consequences. First, his bride (Debra Messing) runs off on the first day of their honeymoon with a French nudist scuba instructor (Hank Azaria).

Then he falls for an old schoolfriend (Jennifer Aniston) who's so flaky she can't commit to a date in advance, let alone a steady relationship. And he's such an

idiot that he seeks romantic advice from a best friend (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who's such a useless slob that Johnny Vegas could play him in any British remake.

Writer-director John Hamburg previously worked with Stiller as a writer on Zoolander and Meet The Parents, two movies that made splendid use of the actor's talent for self-humiliation. But this is third time unlucky.

Stiller's character emerges as selfpityingly neurotic and boorishly aggressive - the annoying younger brother of Woody Allen and Adam Sandler.

Aniston looks as cute as ever, but she's little girl lost without some decent one-liners. She's meant to be a ditzy free spirit; instead, she comes across as a tiresome thirtysomething who needs to grow up.