Movie menage

Movie Review: Along Came Polly (2004)
I expected this to be just another dumb romantic comedy but I was pleasantly surprised. Ben Stiller plays a very anal retentive risk assesment agent who's wife cheats on him on their honeymoon. Jennifer Aniston is a free spirited former classmate. Will these opposites attract? Of course they will but it's a funny ride. The broken toilet scene has become a real cliche these days but the rest of the film was good for laughs. Philop Seymour Hoffman nearly steals the show as Sandy, a former child star who can't move beyond the one role that everyone remembers him for. 7.5/10

Movie Review: Closer (2004)
2 couples become entwined in this story about love, obsession, guilt and trust. The 4 leads give very strong performances but as all of their characters were total pricks I wasn't interested in what happened to any of them. 6/10

Movie Review: The Butterfly Effect (2004)
A bit like 'Donnie Darko', this is a pretty good sci-fi flick. I'm pretty biased in favour of time travel movies though. Kuschner suffers numerous black outs as a child and later on learns that he can travel back in time and change the events. He intends to make things better and right certain wrongs but the more he meddles the worse things seem to get. There are some apparent contradictions that result from his time hopping but I found this a very enjoyable movie that I've been thinking about a lot afterwards. The alternate ending on the DVD is also a real mind bender. 7.5/10

Movie Review: The Pacifier (2005)
Mr. Mom meets Mary Poppins meets Home Alone meets Commando. Vin Diesel plays an elite navy SEAL charged with protecting a household of spunky kids. You can guess what happens; he doesn't know the first thing about kids or babies (so there must be a scene with him having to change a diaper), he's gonna solve all their various problems, and he's gonna deliver an ass-whoopin to someone. Seriously, this is a kiddie movie and the little folk might enjoy this. Anyone with a slightly critical eye with see numerous faults though. Firstly, the opening scene where Vin leads his SEAL team on an amphibious assault is laughable. The wrestling match between Vin and the high school wrestling coach is too pathetic to be laughable. Apparently the high school wrestling coach doesn't know anything about amateur wrestling. This is obviously why he claims to have gotten the coaching position because of his black belt. There are no belts in wrestling. The biggest flaw though is that Vin's mission is to guard the family and their house because criminals want to steal something that is hidden inside it. How does Vin do this? By leaving the house empty for most of the day to sit at the school. He also leaves the majority of the family unguarded most of the time while he tries to help them out individually. While he is playing den mother to the littlest girl, taking the eldest daughter out for driving lessons, and directing the son's musical version of 'The Sound of Music' where are the other children and who is watching over them? Not a very effective plan in my opinion. 5/10