Review of Flirting with Disaster (1996) by Alex R — 19 Jan 2004

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[font='Times New Roman'][color=#000000]Madcap screwball comedy from the director of Three Kings tells the story of Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) and his wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette), parents of a 5-month-old baby who remains nameless. Seeing as how Mel was adopted, he decides to find out his real roots before naming the baby. He gets the help of Tina (Téa Leoni), who works at an adoption agency, and the three of them head out to San Diego, where Mel?s mother supposedly lives. Things don?t go as planned, and soon the trio goes cross-country in search of his real parents (Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin)? who turn out to be making LSD in the basement of their New Mexico home. Add to that a pair of gay cops (Richard Jenkins and Josh Brolin) and Mel?s real parents (George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore) and you?ve got a giant mess on your hands. Sort of a hybrid between Woody Allen and The Marx Brothers, Flirting With Disaster moves along at a breakneck pace, never slowing down. The actors give it their best shot and the film never ceases to amuse (and, at times, just plain make you lose it). A very, very funny film that manages, amazingly enough, to bypass most conventions.[/color][/font].