Some belly laughs do not a comedy make

Rating: 5/10 (15 March 1999)

Maybe as I grow older, I may be less tolerant of really tasteless humor, but I don't think so. After all, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, which also starred Ben Stiller, also has tasteless humor, but it also had a consistent tone and no gaps of unfunny scenes in it. There are admittedly some huge laughs here (like everyone else, I laughed at the zipper and hair gel scenes, and the dog humor is as hilariously twisted as anything since Monty Python), but there are also some boring stretches. Eventually, you get tired of Mary being so naive about everyone's intentions, and how she only seems to attract idiots. Cameron Diaz is an appealing actress, but she's stuck here with a part that doesn't require much besides being the object of affection. Most of the men don't come off much better; Stiller, who showed range in ZERO EFFECT, goes back to his nerdish character, and he overplays it to the point of being tiresome. The saving grace here is Matt Dillon, who's quite funny as a sleazy investigator, complete with mustache. One of the nice things is how he's been able to show a surprising aptitude towards comedy this decade with this, SINGLES, and BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, among others. For the most part, however, you can give this one a miss.