Serving Sara

I watched `Serving Sara' on Saturday. I wish I could say it was a very funny film. I wish I could say that Matthew Perry doesn't look unhealthy for most of the movie. I wish I could say that Elizabeth Hurley was a good comedic actress. I can say that it's clear even when she's acting that Ms. Hurley is a very classy lady. She's also obviously comfortable in front of the camera. However, her use of exaggerated hip swaying and mouth expressions isn't effective in carrying the jokes. When I think of popular actresses who are naturally funny, I think of Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan. Both these ladies utilize their eyes and whole faces in delivering their comedic lines. As for the very likeable Matthew, the circles under his eyes and his drawn face made it hard for me to focus on his performance. His delivery was similar to his acting in `Friends', but in `Serving Sara' his appearance throughout the whole movie seemed subdued. Perhaps he lacked gusto due to the health crisis he was battling at the time of filming or maybe he was directed to be less `Chandler', and more streetwise and scrappy. As for the other two main co-stars, Vincent Pastore basically plays his character in `The Sopranos'; I couldn't detect any difference between his movie performance and television persona. Cedric `The Entertainer' caught my attention with his on-the-verge-of-a-heart-attack performance as the boss with a short temper and high blood pressure. However, his schtick ran out of steam rather quickly. I became unimpressed after his second remark about `that bitch' revealed a lack of original dialogue. Still, if you're a Matthew Perry fan, as I am, the movie isn't an entire waste. The actor's good nature shines through, even when his role calls for him to be something of a jaded character. I had a few chuckles at some of Matthew's more physical scenes and got to watch him for an hour and a half, so I left the theatre with a smile on my face.

In New York, the process server Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry) is assigned to deliver a divorce paper to Sara Moore (Elizabeth Hurley). Her wealthy Texan husband Gordon Moore (Bruce Campbell) is cheating her and also trying to take all their money for him. Sara offers one million dollars to Joe serving Gordon first, and he travels to Texas with Sara trying to accomplish his task. Meanwhile, the serving company sends Tony (Vincent Patore), the colleague and enemy of Joe, to serve Sara. A dispute begins with the oponents trying to serve the divorce papers first, to get financial advantages in the process.

I liked a lot this chase movie that slightly recalls "Midnight Run". There are many funny moments, Matthew Perry and Elizabeth Hurley show great chemistry and the IMDb User Rating of 4.6 is quite unfair. Every time that I see the beautiful and delicious Elizabeth Hurley, I recall the amazing choice of Hugh Grant for Divine Brown. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Serviço de Sara" ("Serving Sara")

This film is about a man who serves court orders to people who don't want them. He meets a challenge when he has to serve a divorce order to a beautiful woman.

"Serving Sara" is a really funny romantic comedy. There are so many funny joke that made me laugh out loud. There is this joke about bathing habit of different nationality, which hits the spot and is so funny. Matthew Perry's play on accents are funny too. I love the plot, the constant tricking, tracking and running away is so much fun. The surprise appearance of Amy Adams is great a well, seeing her in an early role but pivotal in the plot is great. "Serving Sara" is a light hearted and fun film. It's a great way to start a new year, as it made me so happy!

I don't know why everybody is bashing this little movie. Granted, it's not an "extraordinary film" nor is it Oscar material, but it does get the job done, and that is to entertain for an hour and a half. Matthew Perry's character is not that far removed from what he does in "Friends", so if you like "Friends" style of humor, you'll have no problem enjoying "Serving Sara". The premise of a guy delivering court notices isn't very attractive, but the movie does a fine job in stretching this premise and making it funny. Liz Hurley looks, as always, hot and Bruce Campbell(EVIL DEAD) is funny as the Texas business Honcho trying to divorce his wife.

I actually had my reservations about watching this one, because neither the title nor the cast was that appealing to me at first, but again, I must confess that I did enjoy this little sucker and I'd be lying if I told you otherwise. 7* out of 10*!

You know, it pays NOT to take too seriously reviews that dis movies you thought might be OK. This movie had a weakish plot - but not as bad as some I could mention, a not too original character in Perry - its Chandler with a bit more attitude and a bit of fight - but, since I really like the Chandler character that's fine by me, and some pretty funny set pieces (the bull 'milking' scene was funny, OK!). The thing that brought it down was Ms Hurley - great to look at but wooden as heck - as always. In short, my summary says it all - its nowhere NEAR as bad as people led me to believe - a belief which prevented me from seeing it until now!