Flirting with Disaster (1996)

Sometimes a filmmaker's second movie gets labeled as a sophomore slump. David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey) shreds that fate with Flirting with Disaster, an outrageous, free-spirited comedy about private people forced into public situations. Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller) finds the opportunity he's been waiting a lifetime for: an adoption agency rep (Téa Leoni) has located his birth parents and the agency will fly him to California if they can record the reunion. With wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) and new son in tow, the neurotic Mel is compelled to discover his origins, despite the protests of his neurotic adoptive parents (a wonderful Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal). To give away the plot any more would be a crime, but as the title states, Mel is on a collision course of Oedipal proportions. Russell, who made incest an intriguing black-comedy topic in Spanking, is very liberal with sex and permits dangerous situations. His characters mix it up at a moment's notice. The two women along for the ride are not just bit players: Leoni (Deep Impact) keeps her high-energy comic routine flying, while the grounded Arquette keeps the baby in arm, despite the mad wanderings of her husband. Stiller is a perfect comic foil. --Doug Thomas Amazon.com

Little known gem

I LOVE this movie. Have since the first time I saw it, and it remains in my top 10. Hilarious situations, great acting; there are lines we still quote to this day! The two sets of parents are comic geniuses -- Mary Tyler Moore in particular. Ben Stiller looks so young and ungroomed, but is quite strong in his usual self-depreciating way. The series of situations the characters go through make this a classic farce, not to mention a road show, but does not feel predictable at all. Take a chance, you'll love it! January 6, 2009

Gets funnier as it goes along

Mel Coplin (Ben Stiller), the adopted son of two neurotic New Yorkers (Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal) feels that he can't name his new born baby until he finds his roots. This leads to him taking off on a cross-country road trip with his wife (Patricia Arquette), his baby and a woman from his adoption agency (Tea Leoni), which, as the title suggests, leads them from one comical disaster to another.

I have now seen all of David O. Russell's films, and of his four films (the other three being "Spanking the Monkey", "Three Kings" and "I Heart Huckabees"), "Flirting with Disaster" is the one that I had the hardest time making it through. It took me two attempts to make it to the end of this film, and the only reason why I kept going the second time was because I'm a completist and wanted to be able to say that I'd seen all of Russell's films. Needless to say, this film is far from perfect. Many of the characters are abrasive and in-your-face and take a while to get used to, and the plot of this film is the weakest of all of Russell's. Essentially this is just a road film and a large portion of the film comprises Ben Stiller and his entourage travelling from one place to the next, with a comic set piece at each destination. Furthermore, a lot of the jokes in the first half hour I found to be either crude or obvious. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I stuck with this film because, at around the forty minute mark, suddenly this film became really good. By that point I had grown accustomed to the characters, the set-up was complete, and the jokes became really funny. The final half hour of this film, when Stiller finally meets his biological parents (Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda), is absolutely hilarious and made me understand why Russell fans think this is such a great film. I think Ben Stiller is a very funny and often underrated actor, but it is Tomlin, Alda, Segal and Moore who steal the show here. Each is perfectly cast and plays his or her role to perfection.

I am now glad that I decided to buy this film on DVD, rather than rent it. Now that I know what awaits me at the end of this film, I would happily watch it again. I don't think it's as good as "Spanking the Monkey" or "Three Kings", but it's definitely a lot easier to watch that "Spanking the Monkey" (a film about a teenager who falls in love with his mother) and far less "out there" than "I Heart Huckabees", so probably a very good start for someone interested in learning more about the films of David O. Russell.
November 20, 2008

One of my absolute favorites!

Quirky, smart, unpredictable. What a blast to watch, over and over again! If you haven't seen this movie, you absolutely have to. One of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. July 26, 2008

Funny

Ben Stiller was actually cute in this film. I don't think of him as a cutie, just as funny, which he is stinking funny. but, tonight, my dear hubby, Norman, and I watched this delightful movie and Ben was Cute!

Also, cute were Tia Leoni, Patricia Arquette, and the unnamed baby. The cast of stars they meet on the way - Mary Tyler Moore, Lily Tomlin, George Segal, Alan Alda, the 2 gay friends - all were a hoot!

A comedy of errors, boo boos, fumbles, sexual attractions gone wrong, parents that make their kids crazy, and the hillarious stay in a B & B - all kept me and my man laughing out loud. It kept our attention, was funny, sweet, and a great night at the movies, ala sofa and ice cream in the living room.

see it. loads of fun! July 15, 2008

Character-Driven Screwball Farce Still Shines with a Stellar Cast

Absent since 2004's misbegotten I Heart Huckabees, filmmaker David O. Russell made a ramshackle screwball farce back in 1996 that's well worth revisiting on DVD, at least until his next film comes along. He was able to blend character-driven humor with moments of pure slapstick as he tracks the misadventures of Mel Coplin, a neurotic entomologist on a frantic search for his birth parents to resolve his long-standing issues with identity. Tina Kalb, a leggy, off-kilter adoption agency worker thinks she's found Mel's mother in San Diego, so Mel, Tina, and Mel's sweetly frumpy wife Nancy, nursing their five-month baby, embark on a journey that becomes ever more haphazard with every turn of events. Unsurprisingly, an attraction develops between Mel and Tina, who is anxious to get pregnant herself. They meet a gallery of eccentric characters in what becomes a memorably wacky road trip. The real coup with this underappreciated film is the casting. Long before he sold himself up the river with execrably witless comedies like Meet the Fockers and The Heartbreak Kid, Ben Stiller was a promising actor of relative subtlety, and he expertly mans the rudder as Mel with his skittish self-containment. An actress who never seems to fulfill her potential, Téa Leoni brings a mix of klutziness and sexy smarts to the incompetent Tina. As Nancy, Patricia Arquette has a soft, fuzzy quality that makes a nice contrast to Leoni's angularity.

Russell was smart to cast four veterans as Mel's two sets of parents. As his adoptive parents, George Segal and a cast-against-type Mary Tyler Moore are hilarious playing classic New York Jewish stereotypes. Moore, in particular, has a field day playing the obnoxious dark side of Rhoda Morgenstern rightfully proud of her unsagging breasts. As the couple who turns out to be Mel's real parents, Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin are equally funny as graying New Mexico hippies heavy into their art and LSD. When Mel meets them, that's when the film becomes a whirlwind, Noises Off-type of farce with all the personal shenanigans coming to a head. Playing a gay couple who happen to be FBI agents, a surprisingly deft Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) and the always dependable Richard Jenkins (superb in this year's The Visitor) shine as bickering personality opposites. Glenn Fitzgerald as Mel's psychotic brother and Celia Weston as a Reagan-loving Southern matron round out a razor-sharp cast. It all ends rather abruptly, but Russell shows a genuine talent for juggling a lot of comic possibilities with supple dexterity. The 2004 Collector's Edition DVD is light on extras - just three deleted scenes, a few outtakes that don't compare to the final film, and a brief featurette on the film's development and production. May 10, 2008

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