predictable with delightful comic details and nuanced performances

Rating: Null/10 (26 September 2004)

Ben Stiller is very bright and very funny and he is one of those presences that is just really nice to have in a movie, and is always memorable. This character is great, with his mustache, feathered hair, over-the-top one-liners, slimy outfits, creepy smile with teeth that are ridiculously white.
However, I felt torn about the movie. The opening, with the infomercial for Ben's gym was a hysterical parody of those genre of infomercials. The movie itself, however, wore its plot on its sleeve and was predictable and paint-by-numbers. I suppose it was a send up of several other underdog-type sports movies ala Mighty Ducks and Bad News Bears. It worked on many levels and at points was very very funny. I guess, although it felt like an "I've seen this before" type flick, it still had redeeming qualities.
I've been watching lots of offbeat indies and European films recently, so watching a Hollywood flick that follows Syd Field's screen writing books to a tee, where the good guy wins and the bad guy loses out; where the plot follows a very very well-tread line, is difficult to watch without being uber-aware of how overdone this type of plot is.
That being said, the quality of the movie depends on leaving certain pre-conceptions at the door. I mean, it's kind of childish, socking-dodgeball-players-in-the-balls sort of humour. But it is funny. The painting in his office of him wrestling a bull (taking the bull by the horns), the pumping up the crotch area of his silver hip hugging pants before seeing the girl ("the" girl)... i mean, it's about the details. Ben Stiller is a comedian, a comedic writer and a wonderful comic actor. I thought The Cable Guy was brilliant. Other movies he's been involved with have been really great and really funny. This may not go down as a classic, but it's got some really funny moments... yet on the other hand, moments that make you cringe because you know you've seen them before, or because they are there simply to progress the plot towards the next plot point, and they feel awkward and forced.
Overall, though, Stiller did a pretty good job lampooning workout places and that whole scene, even if it was somewhat predictable.