Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Heather Graham Chris Klein, Sally Field
Director: J B Rogers
SAY IT ISN’T SO is an outrageous slapstick comedy from the Farrelly brothers, yes, those who brought you that superb comedy classic THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY.
Gilly (Chris Klein) lives in a small town and works in an animal shelter. He grew up an orphan, never knowing his parents, and it’s his ambition to eventually find out who they are. He has hired the town’s private detective to find out his real identity. The only problem is that this has to be the world’s worst P.I.
Gilly doesn’t have a girlfriend but when told there is a gorgeous new girl in town working at the local hair salon he goes to get a haircut, along with most of the other horny males in town. Enter Jo (Heather Graham), a truly terrible hair stylist, but because of her looks she’s the most popular girl at the salon.
Now, start thinking about the zipper scene in THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, and yes Gilly becomes a victim, but it brings him together with Jo, they fall in love and are about to marry when……Gilly’s detective discovers that Jo is in fact Gilly’s sister! Jo leaves town, Gilly is ridiculed by all, but then finds out his P.I. was wrong and goes to find Jo, who has gone back to her old boyfriend and is now going to marry him.
Don’t worry, knowing any of these facts in advance won’t spoil the movie. In fact you could know the entire storyline from beginning to end and it wouldn’t matter because it’s very predictable. I don’t think there is one scene in it in which you won’t guess what’s going to happen before it actually does. But it doesn’t really matter because it’s a very visual film anyway with absolutely no subtlety at all. Sally Field does an excellent job as Jo’s money grabbing mother, Valdine, and is also very good as a handicapped pilot, who will take any job including becoming friends with Gilly and helping him to get out of trouble in Oregon.
The Farrelly brothers never shy away from jokes and situations involving physical or mental handicaps and this movie is no different. There is also plenty of crude humour, so be prepared and not offended.
The two leads Chris Klein and Heather Graham are both well cast and do good jobs on screen.
The premise of the plot has lots of potential but the question is, how funny is it? Well, despite all of the parallels to THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY this is not that film and it’s not in the same class unfortunately. It falls off in the middle, quite a bit, but it does pick up towards the end.
SAY IT ISN’T SO is enjoyable and worth seeing, just don’t expect too much.
