An ostensibly romantic comedy throwing together Mr. Uptight (Ben Stiller) and Ms. Free Spirit (Jennifer Aniston), written and directed by John Hamburg, whose mind is quite literally in the toilet. The fart at the men's-room urinals is just a warm-up for the illustrated definition of "shart," an intended fart that produces solids in addition to gasses, and then the movie's pièce de résistance, the first-date effects of Middle Eastern cuisine on Irritable Bowel Syndrome, the guest's after-dinner pit stop in his hostess's bathroom, the turning-on of the shower to cover up the brass-band noises, the mere scrap of tissue on the roll of toilet paper, the use of Grandma's embroidered handtowel instead, the plugged-up and overflowing toilet bowl, the use of the hostess's brand-new loofah as a plunger -- well, you could just about die, although not from laughing. Hank Azaria contributes a funny French accent as a nudist scuba instructor on St. Barts, but funny French accents are a dime a dozen. And climactic crosstown dashes to prevent departures of loved ones on airplanes are a dime a gross. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing, Alec Baldwin. (2004) — Duncan Shepherd
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