Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 31-October-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Flirting with Disaster (1996)

It's an interesting coincidence that I revisited David O. Russell's Flirting with Disaster a few days after seeing Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Both movies boast an impressive ensemble cast that includes Josh Brolin, and both deal with people's pitiful attempts to define themselves in ways that will ensure happiness. However, Flirting with Disaster is much more humorous and, because of this, more impressive. Russell and his cast achieve that rare pitch of absurdity that's real enough you can buy into it but not so real you long to throttle the characters.

The fast-paced plot centers around Mel (Ben Stiller), an insecure Manhattan entomologist who wants to meet the birth mother he never knew. Mel and his wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette) have recently had a son, which has awakened his need for family ties. While Nancy tolerates his quest and quirks, she bristles when she meets Tina (Téa Leoni), the sexy counselor from the adoption agency who plans to document Mel's experience for sociological purposes. Naturally, Mel's adoptive parents are also threatened by Tina since they don't want to share their son with, or lose him to, someone else. George Segal and Mary Tyler Moore (superbly shrill but fond) play this set of parents.

Mel heads to San Diego for his big reunion, with Nancy, Tina, and the baby in tow. They end up flying to three different states due to misfires of mistaken identity. Each encounter with a supposed parent increases everyone's frustration (except the viewer's, since these botched connections between clueless strangers are highly amusing). In snowy Michigan, Mel's urge to fit in with whoever represents his origins lands him behind the wheel of a semi truck he has no idea how to drive. This leads to an arrest by two policemen who decide to accompany the group on the last leg of their journey. The younger cop (Brolin) attended high school with Nancy and, though involved with his uptight partner (Richard Jenkins), still carries a torch for her. Nancy is keen for the attention because Mel is drooling over Tina. So, the married couple, their baby, the objects of their adulterous fantasies, and a grumbling fifth wheel eventually arrive on the porch of Mel's biological parents' home.

In a final flourish of casting, they are welcomed by Lily Tomlin and Alan Alda, who appear at first to be the pot of gold Mel has been seeking. Yet such a funny odyssey demands a funny conclusion — let's just say Mel's folks add double meaning to the term "road trip." Throughout the journey the characters' motivations feel honest even though their circumstances are slightly over-the-top. After all, flirting with disaster (or stupidity) is something most people do, especially when faced with questions of self and family.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.