Μύ John Hamburg's third collaboration with Ben Stiller may be "steadfastly conventional", but it's also "consistently amusing". A box office smash on both sides of the pond, its success is largely due to the combined appeal of Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston, as opposed to the slating it received from proper grownup film critics.
It's A Rap
Go behind the scenes of Ben Stiller's psychotic salsa dance and the broken toilet debacle in a lively 'making of' featurette. Writer/director John Hamburg is on hand to explain why he derives so much pleasure out of making Stiller squirm, while Jennifer Aniston talks a lot about being speechless in the face of Stiller's comedic talent.
Hamburg also delivers an optional audio commentary for seven deleted scenes. Among these you'll find Debra Messing performing a truly cringeworthy rap, which Hamburg rightly condemns as "really disturbing". Furthermore he insists it was "all her idea" (whatever you say, John).
Mr Hamburg pops up again with a few words on the original opening of the film. This doesn't really warrant a special billing as it's just another minute-long deleted scene that introduces Stiller as a germ-phobic insurance salesman. In a word, it's humdrum. Likewise, the fact that Philip Seymour Hoffman had to wear a fat suit is perhaps the most interesting bit of trivia you'll glean from Hamburg's feature commentary.
Ferreting For Laughs
The outtakes reel is much more entertaining in demonstrating exactly how unprofessional Stiller can be. He simply cannot stop cracking up when faced with Hank Azaria in a posing pouch, prompting some colourful language from his bare-bottomed co-star. And - if you listen carefully - you'll also hear Hamburg hurling obscenities at Stiller from behind the camera.
The much more professional Rodolfo The Ferret gets his very own bonus feature, which tracks his party hearty exploits in La La Land after hitting the bigtime. This is funny for about a minute, at which point the Debra Messing rap scene starts to look like comedy genius. The ferret also sets the tone for what an appropriately fluffy package of extras.
EXTRA FEATURES
