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List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Walt Disney Video
Salesrank: 32255
Released: June 15, 1999 |
| Our Price: $17.90 |
| Used Price: $3.04 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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
Flirting With Disaster Reviews:
Hysterically Twisted 
2009-04-19 - This movie is hysterical. I loved it. Mary Tyler Moore is fabulous and steals the show. There is so many great characters and I love the way the plot just twists and turns and takes you on one funny ride.
Disastrously Funny!
2009-04-10 - All the characters play their roles with perfect comic genius, and this film pulls off a trick that few comedies can: you actually care about the characters as you would in a drama. Virtually every scene is funny and there are plenty of surprises, keeping you chuckling and on your toes at the same time.
To be honest, since the movie stars Ben Stiller, I expected juvenile humor (you know, I'm thinking about gooey hair gel as in Something About Mary and heads exploding off as in Tropic Thunder. And then there's Starsky and Hutch). But now I see that when Ben gets a great script, like this one, he's very good. Everyone in this great cast works together as an ensemble; no one character steals the show, though they all shine in their own way. This is an example of the sum of the parts being greater - and funnier - than the whole.
Some of the themes and scenes touch on sex and sexuality, but I think it's okay to watch with teenage kids, if you have them. It doesn't promote or make light of risky or irresponsible behavior.
The DVD contains deleted scenes - there are three of them - and for once I agree with the editors that they should have been cut.
If it seems like I'm not saying much about the plot, that's because I don't want to spoil any of the laughs or surprises. You already know that it's about an adopted man who wants to meet his biological parents. I won't do you any favors by telling you more, but do yourself a favor and watch this hilarious movie!
Little known gem
2009-01-06 - 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!
Gets funnier as it goes along 
2008-11-20 - 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.
One of my absolute favorites!
2008-07-26 - 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.
