Along Came Polly (2004) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  John Hamburg

Starring:  Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Bryan Brown, Bob Dishy, Michele Lee, Hank Azaria, Jsu Garcia

For a guy whose livelihood depends on assessing risk, Reuben Pffefer (Stiller) bets on longshots in his personal life.   Reuben is an insurance risk analyst who knows eating from a bowl of nuts at your average bar increases risk of exposure to any number of bacteria, but then marries Lisa (Messing) who cheats on him with a scuba instructor on their honeymoon.  During his separation from Lisa, he begins a relationship with flighty Polly (Aniston), who goes through life without a plan or any semblance of direction.    

Along Came Polly receives most of its laughs from the absurd characters which populate Reuben's world, including his best friend Sandy Lyle (Hoffman), a washed-up child actor still living off his popularity from a teen movie he did back in the 80's, and Reuben's boss Stan Indursky (Baldwin), whose behavior could be construed as hilariously inappropriate in more ways than one.  Just listen to his speech to Reuben and Lisa at their wedding and you'll see what I mean.   And let's not forget daredevil CEO Leland Van Lew (Brown), who is looking to be insured by Reuben's firm while doing everything possible to up his risk factor, including sky diving off of the tallest building in LA and sailing during a hurricane.

Polly helps Reuben to stand outside of his self-protective bubble and take chances, even ones which he knows will likely cause him grief such as eating spicy food and those dastardly bar peanuts.    Which isn't to say he is 100% sure of Polly or Lisa.    In a scene reminiscent of a Friends episode starring Aniston, Reuben categorizes the pros and cons of both women to see who is a better fit statistically.    Maybe Lisa would be safer, if Reuben could get past the whole being cheated on during his honeymoon thing.

Reuben's relationship with Polly is not as funny as his co-stars, who bring their own hilarious A-games and provide some comic gems.    Stiller proves once again he is the master of the straight man slow burn, while Aniston is appropriately likable.    Along Came Polly manages to mix up just the right amount of  screwball romance while not overshadowing the supporting players.    You would be surprised what an entertaining mix it is.