What’s best about this sit-commish romance from writer/director John Hamburg (who co-wrote Ben Stiller’s Meet the Parents and Zoolander) is its hilarious cast of skilled character actors, including Alec Baldwin as a crass boss, Hank Azaria as a philosophical French scuba-diving instructor, Bryan Brown as an accident-prone daredevil, and especially Philip Seymour Hoffman as a Brat Pack–type former teen star gone to seed. The problem is that they steal the film from its leads: timid actuary Reuben (Stiller) and free-spirited waitress Polly (a bemused but bland Jennifer Aniston).

Stiller is thoroughly versed at playing sexually humiliated nebbishes, though he’s dipped into this well too often. He does bring to Reuben an array of chimplike facial expressions and physical contortions that would awe even Derek Zoolander. The movie performs similar contortions to convince you that Polly would be drawn to this sad little simian, that her post-collegiate bumming around is a life lived on the edge (she eats spicy ethnic food! she likes salsa dancing!), and that she’s perfect for Reuben for any reason other than the fact that she’s played by Aniston. Reuben astutely recognizes Polly's unwillingness to commit to anything, even dinner plans, as a mirror of his own fear of taking risks. Still, when a mainstream Hollywood comedy designed with market-tested poopy jokes at regular intervals makes the statement that risk-free existence is dull and unfulfilling, it’s time to check your wallet.