Movies We Missed: Flirting With Disaster (1996)

Posted by Peter Smith
Americans will still pay to see Ben Stiller run his shtick into the ground, judging from the healthy box-office return for The Heartbreak Kid. But we have to look back over a decade to remember when we actually thought Ben Stiller was funny, and before we got a little sick of him playing another neurotic little guy in an impossible situation.
 
Why we missed it: Director David O. Russell wasn’t yet famous for films like Three Kings or for trying to set Lily Tomlin on fire verbally with a string of f-bombs. 

Stiller himself had only achieved cult status for his short-lived sketch-comedy show and modest acclaim for his directorial debut, Reality Bites, when this film came out. 

Why we should have known: A cast that included Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni, Alan Alda, Josh Brolin and Mary Tyler Moore on a minimal budget should have given some indication that this was probably a good script.

The concept — an adopted and (surprise!) neurotic man’s quest to find his real parents accompanied by his pregnant wife, a sexy-but-incompetent case worker and a documentary-film crew — is a great one.

Why we ended up kicking ourselves: Stiller is clearly the right man for this role. Nobody has played a more believable well-meaning-but-ultimately-doomed Jewish guy since Woody Allen invented the role years earlier. His reactions, timing and ability to pull off physical comedy are all perfect here. 
 
Patricia Arquette and Tea Leoni are both genuinely funny. Their half-hearted attempts to win Stiller’s affection create many funny moments and also give the film a little heart. 

Russell’s script stays sharp, creative and original throughout the film. 

The film’s final sequence involving a pair of gay, vacationing cops, Stiller’s wife, lover, birth parents, adopted parents, newfound brother and some heavy doses of LSD is unforgettable and absolutely hilarious.
 
Why we may have been better off without it: This role sparked a dozen just like it for Stiller, including real gems like Duplex, Along Came Polly and Meet the Fockers. Reviews that included the word 'genius' seem to be the only ones that David O. Russell read or believed in.   

— Bryan Whitefield
+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT
Posted Oct 15 2007, 02:00 PM
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Comments

Dawn said:

You're right about one thing about this movie. Patricia Arquette as the put-upon wife (who by the way, wasn't pregnant, but had just had a baby) was my favorite part of the movie. But Stiller's antics and neurotic behavior quickly wore thin. But it was an excellent script (evidenced, as you said, by the stellar cast) and direction by David O. Russell.  Probably my all-time favorite Ben Stiller, and one of the few of his that I actually liked.

October 16, 2007 12:22 PM

privateivan said:

I remember really liking this when I saw it on first release, and I'd love to see the film again--Tea Leoni, Lily Tomlin, the LSD sequence, everything was great--but Stiller has become SO toxic that I won't rent it--I refuse to let Typhoid Ben into my house, I hate him so much now. Really, he's worse than Robin Williams.

October 16, 2007 10:03 PM

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