Along Came Polly
Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 16, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
21
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Hamburg's smartypants banter is a bit spotty, but the bathroom humor, of all things, hits the mark, and Stiller's trademark wide-eyed bafflement wins the day again. Read full review
60
EmpireCaroline Westbrook
It’s not bad, but given all the talent involved, it would have been nice for Hamburg to push the envelope a bit further and deliver something with real bite. As it is, this is more of a pleasant, but forgettable, time-filler. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Remove the razzle-dazzle provided by Azaria, Hoffman, Baldwin, the gross jokes and that ferret, and you wind up with a pretty dull and ordinary face. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Might be a lame, formulaic comedy, but it sets up entertaining sequences cleverly designed for the talents of three of its stars and has the good sense to get out of the way and let audiences enjoy their performances. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
Writer-director John Hamburg does everything he can to pair up Ben Stiller's stiff, safety-first corporate man with Jennifer Aniston's free spirit in Along Came Polly, but the two are so fundamentally incompatible that story loses credibility long before the gags stop coming. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Some movies run out of gas. This one could use an alternate fuel source. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
The civilized running time and breezy editing between scattershot plot threads keep the attention in a superficial way, and it would be misstating the case to deny that the movie has some chuckles (the kind that don't linger). Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
In the not-so-grand scheme of such things, Along Came Polly is certainly harmless, and occasionally very funny. It's just not clever enough to keep you engaged.
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Stiller and Aniston have zero sexual chemistry. But they have impeccable comic chemistry in a movie that features some stellar bits of business. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Recycles gags from various, more successful gross-out and romantic comedies, but without any zest or imagination. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Hampered by the kind of overacting that the cast seems to enjoy more than the audience. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There isn't a lot in the movie that is funny. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
There is no central drama, no surprise, no tension in his comedy. The ads for Along Came Polly make it look so upbeat and simple that you're convinced it must be hiding something, like death or a disease. But the truth is there in the advertising: nothing happens. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Firmly ensconced among the forgettables in Stiller's career, a generic romantic comedy of the one-from-column-A, one-from-column-B variety. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Something we've all seen before, far too many times, not only in its premise but also in its lame parade of scatological jokes and its sad, tired pratfalls. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
With a cast this gifted, some of the throwaway jokes stick, but when Along Came Polly goes for its biggest, grossest laughs, the strings show well in advance. Read full review
40
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Largely innocuous and forgettable, Polly lacks "Mary's" romantic pathos and psychosexual anxiety and is a few squirmy set pieces shy of "Meet the Parents." Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
The film is sporadically amusing, especially early on. But as the gross-outs dwindle, one is left to contemplate if Stiller has always been this neckless and to wonder just why Aniston wastes her summer vacation on junk such as this. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
On paper it has every advantage, from gifted stars Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston to an established comedy writer-director with a promising idea about a romance between a carefree woman and a worried man. But instead of maximizing those pluses, Along Came Polly so completely fritters them away that even its brief 90 minutes feels unhappily long. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Something of a snooze. Read full review
40
SlateDavid Edelstein
The movie is a peculiar and unsatisfying hybrid--but above all it's a pedestal to its popular leading man, Ben Stiller. Read full review
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