Review of The Object of My Affection (1998) by Bill C — 25 Mar 2009

A lot of people know how big of a Paul Rudd fan I am, and pretty much anything he touches turns to gold in my opinion. However, there was a time, I didn't think he was a very good actor at all. As a matter of fact, this was the movie that pretty much made me think, that he was more or less a waste of space in the ream of the acting world.

The Object of My Affection stars Jennifer Aniston as a woman, dating what seems like a manic mood man, played by the usually funny, but all over the map in this movie, John Pankow (best known for his role as Ira, on "Mad About You"). She gets pregnant, and while she's pregnant she befriends an elementary school teacher played by Rudd. Who is of course Gay.

The premise itself is not the problem with this film, the main problem was how uninteresting the characters that Rudd & Aniston play are. Aniston was pretty much like a more high strung version of Rachel from "Friends" with this film. It wasn't until years later, Aniston would find her own true identity as an Actress. She seems to be stuck here, and Rudd looks as if he's on autopilot. He proved he had talent with his role in 1995's "Clueless", but struggled for many years after.

Also, the dialogue and script of this film seemed to be quite pedestrian, I mean, granted it wasn't as cheesey as most films are when it comes to this type of concept, but it was sorely lacking in certain areas.

I also found Pankow's character to be unbearable, one minute he's this way, one minute he's that way. I mean come on! It makes me wonder why someone like Aniston's character would even be with someone like that.

The film does have it's bright spots. Including great supporting work from Alison Janney & Alan Alda, as the sister and brother in law. Also, Nigel Hawthorne has a fantastic small role in this film.

The Object of My Affection has great talent in it, but they're not really doing anything of note, outside of the supporting character, the idea was there, but the movie was not.