Heather Graham and Chris Klein in "Say It Isn't So."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, David Lee gives this film a: Stars: Chris Klein, Heather Graham and Sally Field Director: J.B. Rogers Rated: R, with nudity, profanity, sexuality, violence and tasteless humor Length: 93 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By David Lee
Democrat and Chronicle

(March 23, 2001) -- There's something about Peter and Bobby Farrelly.

Unwholesome as their films can be, they carry a special brand of subversion that turns crude antics into memorable laughs.

But the Farrelly brothers didn't write or direct Say It Isn't So, even though it was marketed with their names attached -- they just produced it. The movie is shepherded by James Rogers, who was an assistant director to the devious duo. (His other credits include writing Sorority House Massacre II, so consider that a warning.)

And it's not an irreverent, raunchy romp. It's a harried and haphazard romantic comedy that's not really romantic, and not very comic. The dirty jokes that pepper the plot feel like a last-ditch garnish to a bland main course.

Chris Klein plays Gilly Noble, a kindly animal control specialist who muses about loneliness and utters big words, including "ponder" and "milquetoast," as if he really knows what they mean.

His true love is an inept hairdresser named Jo Wingfield (Heather Graham), who seems to have received beauty schooling from Vincent van Gogh. Jo and Gilly flock to each other, but their bliss is cut short when a private detective mistakenly reports that the two are siblings.

It almost seems too easy -- and for a while, the incest jokes and untimely miscues are fairly amusing. But instead of exploiting a rich setup, the script just cribs Farrelly brothers' movies -- there's a hint of the creative hair gel from There's Something About Mary, and a revision of the slick-mouthed amputee in Kingpin.

To be sure, Say It Isn't So has a team of marginal characters that will inevitably sneak in a few good laughs. It's hard not to giggle when Jo's father (Richard Jenkins), a stroke victim whose voice synthesizer makes him sound like Stephen Hawking, chirps along to Louie, Louie.

But more often, Rogers misses golden opportunities, as if he's been dealt a royal flush but someone ended the match with a pair of twos.

Orlando Jones plays a sassy double amputee whose energy adds some needed spark, but his oddball character feels better suited for a psychedelic version of Apocalypse Now.

Sally Field could have been a gem as Jo's trashy mother, but she's not quite the foul-mouthed, gold-digging, mullet-sporting hillbilly one might have hoped for. It would have been a delight to see Field send up her traditional roles as the sweet but spunky heroine.

That being said, Say It Isn't So does have a brilliant ending that's almost worth sitting through the entire movie for. Almost.