Flirting With Disaster

David O. Russel | USA | 1996 | 92 mins

David O. Russell, the twisted genius behind Spanking the Monkey and the upcoming Three Kings, offers a modern rendition of the screwball comedy in the 1996 film Flirting With Disaster. Critically acclaimed but little seen, the movie features Ben Stiller as Mel Coplin, a New York entymologist whose newfound fatherhood prompts him to go in search of his birth parents.

Accompanied by his wife Nancy (Patricia Arquette), his still-unnamed son, and a flighty adoption agency worker by the name of Tina Kalb (Tea Leoni), Mel takes to the road, hoping to at long last discover his roots. What begins as a straightforward journey becomes increasingly muddled, as Tina's adoptions files prove to be somewhat faulty. At the same time, sexual tension begins to heat up between Mel and ex-dancer Tina, who confides in him that she is searching for an intelligent man to impregnate her.

Russell's vision of America is in many ways just as twisted as David Lynch's, but rather than exposing the truth behind the country's white picket fences in dark, sinister tones, Russell instead uses off-kilter humour. Like those of Lynch, Russell's movies are filled with colourful, memorable characters. Among the more interesting that Mel encounters are the two blond, volleyball-playing twins who claim to be his sisters; a Southern belle with a glass menagerie; and a couple of gay federal agents (one of whom takes a liking to Nancy). Throughout the course of the film, Russell leaves no stone unturned, lampooning everything from bed-and-breakfasts to Ronald Reagan to the American counterculture (or, as one character concisely puts it, "Jerry Garcia, blah, blah, blah"). Each character that appears in the film is strongly developed, with strong acting all around. Deftly playing against type are Mary Tyler Moore as Mel's adoptive mother, a neurotic Jewish housewife, and Alan Alda as an ageing hippie with a penchant for LSD. Stiller shows remarkable skill as the film's straight-man, a role he would reprise in the similar (but much less clever) comedy There's Something About Mary. Josh Brolin, George Segal, Lily Tomlin, and Celia Weston round out the excellent supporting cast. Don't let the opportunity to see this comic gem pass you by!

Review by Beth Gilligan
Taken from EUFS programme spring 2000