Flirting with Disaster
- Director: David O. Russell
- Writer: David O. Russell
- Producer: Christopher Goode; Trea Leventhal
CGiii Comment
More neurosis from the predictable Ben Stiller camp.
Russell tries to emulate Woody Allen - and fails.
The noteworthy cast also fail in injecting anything worthy into this overly wordy and unfunny script.
An excruciating experience on all levels.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Five months after the birth of his son, Mel Coplin remains unable to name the child until he has met his own biological parents and discovered who he "really is." He, his wife Nancy, and his social-worker-in-training Tina Kalb jet off to California to meet his birth mother--who turns out not to be his mother, due to an error with the agency's adoption records. The quartet sets out in search of Mel's real parents, with tensions growing because of the sexual chemistry lacking between Mel and Nancy and growing between Mel and Tina.
Cast & Characters
Ben Stiller as Mel Coplin;
Patricia Arquette as Nancy Coplin;
Tea Leoni as Tina Kalb;
Alan Alda as Richard Schlichting;
Mary Tyler Moore as Pearl Coplin;
George Segal as Ed Coplin;
Lily Tomlin as Mary Schlichting;
Josh Brolin as Tony Kent;
Richard Jenkins as Paul Harmon;
Celia Weston as Valerie Swaney;
Glenn Fitzgerald as Lonnie Schlichting;
Beth Ostrosky as Jane;
Cynthia Lamontagne as Sandra;
David Patrick Kelly as Fritz Boudreau;
John Ford Noonan as Mitch