That's A Sore Point

Rating: 6/10 (18 March 1999)

I shall assume that most people know the basic plot of this romantic comedy about a man trying to track down his High School sweetheart and cut directly to the chase. This is not nearly as good a film as the critics would have you believe. The styles that make up this film (gross out comedy and romantic fluff) really do not work together. The result is a film that, like some of the characters, is schizophrenic. However, there are many good points to be going on with.
In many places the film is very, very, funny. The infamous `trapped in trouser-fly' scene is cleverly put together, and the whole 1985 prologue is extremely well thought-out. Keith David walks away with the acting honours for the whole movie as Mary's black step-father, who also gets the best line: `Don't make me open a can of Whoop-ass now!'. Bad taste proliferates here like fungus in a petri dish. A dog is poisoned, resuscitated with an electric cord, set on fire and fed Speed, there is some terrifying nudity, and the hair-gel sequence has already passed into American movie folklore. Do not watch this film if you are easily offended. The performances are not bad in general, but there is something lacking. Ben Stiller gets surprisingly little to do, and Lee Evans' American accent is very bad for such a talented comedian. On the other hand, Diaz is surprisingly good, making the best of a badly written character.
The Farellys seem to think that they can handle the gentler sections, but the opposite is unfortunately the case. They are incapable of the softer scenes between Stiller and Diaz, and constantly inject humour into all the wrong places. On the whole the film is quirky, with popular folk singer Jonathan Richman narrating through song and getting shot at the end. If you don't expect too much from this then you will enjoy yourself, particularly if you see it with friends as I did. But when the trailers are more exciting than the film itself, you can't help thinking twice about whether you should have seen Armageddon instead.