Review of Flirting with Disaster (1996) by Aaron N — 25 Jun 2009
Tina: Every marriage is vulnerable, otherwise being married wouldn't mean anything, would it?
A very funny film that takes a fairly straightforward and serious premise involving finding one's birth parents and turns it into a mix of screwball comedy with some indie film quirkiness. It also has a terrific ensemble cast.
Proving to me once again that Ben Stiller did his best work as an actor during the 90s, he stars as Mel, and new father with his wife Nancy, played by Patricia Arquette, who is intent on finding out who his real parents are, so he can name the baby. Aided by an adoption agent Tina, played by Tea Leoni, looking to document this event, the three head to San Diego to find Mel's real mother. Unfortunately, its just not that easy as mistakes and incompetent work by Tina leads Mel and Nancy on a trip to many different stops before finding the real parents and even then, things do go as planned.
Mr. Coplin: Why is everyone getting worked up all of the sudden? I thought we were gunna talk about getting new carpeting. Taking out this crap and putting in the wall-to-wall.
Also featuring Alan Alda, Lily Tomlin, Mary Tyler Moore, George Segal, Josh Brolin, and Richard Jenkins in a film written and directed by live wire David O. Russel, this movie manages to be very funny, with characters all managing to have various quirks and problems with themselves.
Mary Schlichting: You apologize!
Lonnie Schlichting: I'm sorry.
Mary Schlichting: Sorry for what?
Lonnie Schlichting: I'm sorry that I put windowpane in Mel's quail, and I'm sorry that you ate it.
Its very enjoyable, even if things become all sorts of strange by the end. The dialog is frequently funny and all of the actors get the type of sense of humor that this movie has.
Mel: [to Agent Tony] You got a lot of nerve. You come in here, you lick my wife's armpit. You know... I'm going to have that image in my head for the rest of my life with your tongue in there.
Nancy Coplin: You deserve it.
This review of Flirting with Disaster (1996) was written by Aaron N on 25 Jun 2009.
Flirting with Disaster has generally received positive reviews.
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