Serving Sara

Review by Clint Morris

I want to make a prediction: In the future I’m betting video stores will be clearing way for a new section, bringing in several new shelves for the titles that will adorn it.

It will of course be the “Friends” category, all the films the famous five did while their hit TV show was in its hey day.

Many of these films are unqualified stinkers, many just sufferable, a couple really good. But if they plan on slapping some ‘highly recommended’ stickers on some of the sleeves – not that any of the titles really deserve it – let one be slapped on Serving Sara, one of Mathew Perry’s better moments in cinema.

For every lame gag the man behind Chandler has to endure, the film’s got a better one coming up to compensate.

Perry plays Joe Tyler, a New York process server on a losing streak. His boss, Ray (Cedric the Entertainer), is upset that Joe's last few cases took so much time that they became unbeneficial. But Ray decides to give him one more chance on a money-spinning set of divorce papers.

The object of Joe's mind is Sara Moore (Ms. Hurley), whose rich husband (Bruce Campbell) wants a divorce as inexpensively as possible — so he has her served in New York at their apartment, instead of Texas, where his business is.

When Sara figures out that who gets served first and where may determine the outcome of the divorce, she bribes Joe to serve her husband with her own papers in Texas.

A celluloid dartboard for critics, Serving Sara is a drippy comedy filled with the kind of stinky gags and uneasy occurrences that’ll only drive a reviewer to drink.

But what many of these penners might be overlooking is the grand chemistry between the film’s two leads and the high spirits they seem to be possessing right through.

Sure it doesn’t sound like much, and for the most part it isn’t.

Perry and Hurley really struggle in some of the scenes – you can almost see their faces turning crimson from trying to squeeze jokes out of even the lamest of gags. But there’s still something vaguely enjoyable about the film, as there has been with most of Matthew Perry’s movies.

They’re all usually daggy, but still minutely witty, somewhat engaging and Perry is a charming tour guide for the fodder’s duration.

While Serving Sara mightn’t be worth the hefty price of cinema admission, give that sleeve a second look when it hits the video shelves.

3 out of 5

Serving Sara
Australian release: Thursday February 27
Cast: Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, Cedric the Entertainer, Bruce Campbell, Vincent Pastore, Amy Adams, Jerry Stiller.
Director: Reginald Hudlin.
Website: Click here

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