Customer Reviews

Flirting with Disaster (Widescreen)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This product came earlier than expected which was nice. However it did not work when I played it in my laptop. It worked in my traditional dvd player but I would expect DVDs to work in my laptop.

That is my only criticism. Otherwise everything was great.

I love this Ben Stiller comedy about a grown adopted man looking for his birth parents, traveling all across the country with wife, baby, and assorted others in tow, including Tea Leoni as an incompetent researcher going through a divorce.

The picture quality on this DVD was awful to the point of being distracting. I've seldom seen picture quality this bad on a used VHS tape, never mind a DVD. I don't know what happened, but obviously mistakes were made. Too bad. This movie deserved a better DVD.

Amazing cast of talented people who put in good performances despite the plodding script. Wow, if these top comic actors had better material this thing would have been dynamite. Instead, the few funny jokes you can all see coming a mile away.

As an adoptee myself of the same age as Stiller's character, I can really relate to much of the truth in this movie. So I recommend this to grown adoptees as well as fans of the stars. Be sure to watch through the credits, some amusing scenes in there.

Where to begin! Lily Tomlin and Alan Ada at the top of their game in an all-round stellar comic starcast. Lighthearted but biting dialogue that houses a charming warmth for its dysfunctional characters.

And a doozy theme: a new father's search for his birth parents. He can't name his own baby until he knows more about where he came from. The adoption agent who accompanies them is the epitome of the high strung New Yorker, whose goofs and gaffs lead the group into one riotous predicament after another. Particularly funny if you have recently been thinking of names for a baby, or if you can laugh at 60's counterculture.

The movie is funniest in the last 15 minutes or so. The closing credits alone are worth the price of admission (or DVD). Recommended rental. Even better the second time round.

I like independant films, I like Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette, and while Tea Leoni isn't all that consistent an actress I've always had the hots for her, so I thought this was a sure bet. It just didn't come through. Stiller's character is actually quite annoying, Arquette's role is a thin caricature, and Tea Leoni's character, even when she's running around in her underwear, is just too strange to bear. I wish I had liked this film, but the whole thing just fell flat. Find a better move to buy.

This movie had be laughing all the way through. It's one of those movies you could watch over and over again and never get sick of. And you'll need to watch it over and over because everytime you watch it, you catch other subtle things that ultimately become more hilarious as you get to know what lies ahead. All I have to do is think about parts of that movie, and it lights me up. This movie is awesome and worth every penny. Richard Jenkins is a crack up, who also starred as Stillers therapist in "There's something about Mary", another masterpiece! This movie is beyond hilarious! I wish all comedies were this funny.

I just watched this film for the first time since it came out in 1996. David O. Russell's second film is a great comedic masterpiece, wedged in nicely between 'Spanking the Monkey' & 'Three Kings.'

Normally, this type of comedy might be characterized as slapstick in the Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton mold, but its so clever and intelligent that its impossible to imagine this as a silly film.

Some laughs, and is worth seeing once, I'd say. I bought it because it was so highly recommended by a friend. I'm going to erase the tape, and use it to record something else.

Ben Stiller is once again out to "meet the parents" - his own parents this time - but doing so proves, well, almost disasterous. The film presents an amusing cross-section of white America. Ben Stiller plays another uptight role (a blend of the Ben Stiller from Reality Bites/Meet the Parents/Royal Tenenbaums). I laughed out loud a few times and grinned quite a bit too. This movie is not for the typical movie watcher who still finds Hollywood formula comedies amusing. If you loved the Royal Tenenbaums you'd probably like or love this film. And any movie with an armpit licking scene is worth watching.

Even though my comments will echo those of other positive comments listed on this site, I felt I HAD to put my two cents in, if only to get the "Average Rating" boosted so that more folks will check out this classic comedy. As you can see from the handful of negative reviews, it's not everyone's cup of tea - some people perceive it to be a somewhat grating experience. True, the humor comes out of putting people in very uncomfortable situations but, if you find humor in well meaning but neurotic people squrming and sweating their way through funny mishap after funny mishap, you will adore this movie. Everyone is fantastic in this film, though Tea Leoni, Alan Alda, and Lily Tomlin come close to stealing the show. Arquette is a sexy straight man (though she gets to earn some laughs, too), Stiller is his usual put-upon self, Mary Tyler Moore & George Segal have great cameos, and Josh Brolin & Richard E. Jenkins make for two unforgettable Feds. A ton of brilliant set pieces and memorable/quotable lines are served up by the very talented David O. Russell ("Three Kings," "Spanking the Monkey") in this, his second film as writer/director. I have no negative criticism to offer - it's hilarious every time you view it (and I've screened it plenty). Really, it's one of the best SMART comedies of the past decade. Folks looking for flatulence jokes, zany hairdos, and pop cultural references in lieu of witty dialogue will have to look elsewhere. I'd give it 10 stars if that were an option - I cannot praise it enough.