Squeezed in between indie incester Spanking The Monkey and Gulf War action-guffawer Three Kings, David O Russell's Flirting With Disaster follows neurotic, adopted New Yorker Ben Stiller as he searches for his biological parents. Wants to be a wacky comedy with a side order of sentiment, and succeeds - - but only intermittently.
DVD Extras:
Trailer.
Verdict:
Worth seeing for Russell's ambition and fun comic turns from the likes of Téa Leoni and, in particular, Alan Alda, who plays Stiller's biological, pot-loving pop. But that comes with a qualifier: given the amount of talent on show here (Stiller, Mary Tyler Moore, Lily Tomlin), the giggle factor isn't as high as you'd expect. The disc is even less of a laughing matter, being a film-only vanilla release.
