Trailer Overload

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2000)

Greetings again from the darkness. This is a cute movie with some great comedy, ruined for me by the Hollywood brass that decided to spend 2 months promoting the movie by blowing every punch line and sight gag in the movie, save one (the "drag racing" scene). I do think there should be a law or rule, that only allows ONE Ben Stiller movie per year. He is good in small doses. DeNiro is his usual scene-chewing greatness as the over-bearing dad, Gwyneth's mom (Blythe Danner) is wasted (and looks out of sync) as the too-quiet mom. Owen Wilson has a nice turn and should consider specializing in the character actor role. If you have not seen more than 3 previews to this movie, you should go. I BEG you Hollywood, give us credit ... we will go see your movie if it is well written and well acted. Don't ruin it for us before we arrive! My special note on this one is that one of the producers is the former goofy stand-up comedian, Emo Phillips. Also, kudos to Jay Roach for his direction. This is a giant step from the underrated "Blown Away".