Say It Isn't So

I found this movie funnier than I expected. Chris Klein and Heather Graham are adequate in the leads, and Klein's character finds himself falling in love with Graham's. When he finds out they might actually be brother and sister, they have to call it off. A while later, Klein learns that it is all a big mistake, but by this time Graham is engaged to marry another man. Klein then sets out to try to break up that wedding, getting into one jam after another, including a mental hospital, prison, and several fights with the redneck townsfolk.

If you can excuse mild raunchiness and an occassional painful-looking moment, you might like this one.

*** out of ****

This movie is typical of the raunchy comedy you can expect from Bobby & Peter Farrelly. Perhaps I haven't seen enough of their movies to make an adequate judgment, but I didn't notice anything "missing vibes" from it. There are a few surprises in it however, that could make you ask questions beginning with "Who Knew?":

Who knew Orlando Jones could be cool? If you saw his 7-Up commercials you wouldn't think he was. For the record, his character was not Jimi Hendrix, or his ghost, or some nut who thought he was Hendrix.

Who knew Sally Field could pass herself off as a villainess, and a comical one at that? Fans who like her best during her Gidget/Flying Nun years will be just as surprised as those who praise her for Sybil, Norma Rae, Places in the Heart, and similar TV-Movies & tear-jerkers.

Who knew the Farrelly Brothers would make a woman suffer so much heartbreak? In There's Something About Mary, we have Ben Stiller sobbing it up over the presumed loss of his object of desire. Here we have Heather Graham doing the same thing over a man she loves, but still believes is her brother.

Who knew an otherwise sugar sweet poem would be used as a weapon on any pets spending their final moments on earth? There's the scene where Chris Kline recites the poem he uses for abandoned animals he's about to exterminate for Heather Graham. I don't care how beautiful she thought it was, if I were any of those animals I'd be as scared of that poem as I would of the idea of being killed on the expiration date.

Anyway, this movie has a lot of sleaze, a lot of heart, and a lot of surprises. If you're not the uptight prim and proper-type, check it out.

I can't believe the lame reviews IMDB readers gave this film.

It's an excellent comedy from an excellent film team, and I'd rank it right up there alongside all the other great Farrelly Brothers films... though they didn't actually direct this one... here it's James B. Rogers who appears to have been assistant director on all the rest of Peter and Bobby's major releases except for Shallow Hal.

Along with The Coen Brothers, and Todd Solondz, the Farrelly Brother's are one of the best things going in American film these days. The fact that so many people claim to be offended by "Say It Isn't So" only makes me like the movie more, and want to see it again. (I've seen it twice so far).

Chris Klein deserves a special mention here as the few positive reviews credit the spectacularly funny Orlando Jones, Sally Field and of course, Heather Graham ... who are all fine... but Chris Klein appears to have been overlooked, and he really shines in SAY IT ISN'T SO, which is the first film I saw him in.

Check out "Election" w/ Chris Klein, Matthew Broderick and Drew Barrymore, for more good laughs.

There were brilliant gags well-paced throughout, but just recalling Orlando Jones (Digs) bush pilot business card alone puts a big smile on my face. 9/10

This was a nice silly movie that had a few laughs and brought me back to the gold old days of the 00s the story was new easy to follow nice cast I happen to really like the guy from American pie and heather graham she's pretty and a great actress also was pretty good in the spy who shagged me the only actress i really really really really didn't like was sally field she over acted so much that it got very irritating Orlando Jones was the funniest as the amputee all the jokes landed right and it had a very nice ending being cure and vulgar didn't take away from it anyone who wants a silly but light hearten movie to watch take a look at this it nothing special but you will end happy

First of all, I was disappointed that the Farrellys didn't take the director's seat on this one. I hate when previews mislead you like that. Nine times out of ten, when you hear the announcer in a trailer say, "from horror master Wes Craven" or something of that sort, it means the well-known director is a producer or executive producer in the project, like in this case. But it still has that Farrelly vibe, since J.B. Rogers worked as the A.D. in their previous works.

The movie gets off to a slow start. The gags start off pretty lame. And most of the funny parts shown were given away in the previews. We're handed a lot of quirks, but the comedy doesn't quite gel. We have Richard Jenkins as a wheelchair-bound father, who uses excessive profanity through a voice-box. So far, we're pushing the envelope, but the laughs haven't entirely arrived. I have to admit, though, the nipple-piercing scene was very funny. Luckily, that scene wasn't completely given away in the trailers, because quite frankly--it couldn't be shown on network television.

The film speeds up the comedy with the arrival of Orlando Jones as a pilot with artificial legs and a Jimmi Hendrix hairdo. For some reason, the Farrellys have an obsession with handicapped characters. Jones is very funny, and brings in the film's biggest laughs.

I also think we wander into one-joke territory one time too many. OK, the guy banged his sister. It was funny at first. How many times do we have to hear it repeated in the next gag...and the gag after that...and the gag after that? But the gags improve as we go along, and I got more and more laughs. By the last thirty minutes, I was laughing myself silly! So I wouldn't say this comedy is anywhere near as bad as most people said it was.

"Say It Isn't So" isn't the best comedy of the year, but it often delivers. And it's one of the few comedies that gets funnier as it goes along, rather than starting off with a bang and dragging on as it progresses.

My score: 7 (out of 10)