TRAILER OF THE DAY # 12 - Flirting With Disaster (1996)

David O. Russel wrote and directed this brilliant, episodic comedy about Mel, a new father, and man who was adopted as a child, who decides to find his birth parents in hopes of knowing more about himself, and giving who he "is" some context, and being a better mentor to his baby. Employing a sexy social worker, Tina, and bringing along his reticent, young wife, Nancy, still recovering from recently having given birth (with all that entails emotionally and hormonally!), the trio embark on a cross country jaunt wrought with missteps and wrong turns. Mistaken identity after mistaken identity, they hit a series of constant dead ends, in the quest to find his roots.
Ben's adoptive parents, Pearl and Ed, don't know what to make of their sons new-found need to know his biological family history, but in the end are supportive, even if concerned for their own standing in the life of the child they love and raised.
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER is a road trip film, harkening back to the style of Billy Wilder's more farcical work, while also having a modern sketch comedy sensibility, moving between screwball humor and caustic satire with incredibly fluidity and ease . It all plays along at a brisk pace, laughs come hard and fast, with characters that weave in and out of the film, while not getting a lot of screen time, incredibly well rendered regardless of their short stay.
The cast is an Altman-esque whose who, especially in hindsight, with a still-green Ben Stiller in the lead, and Tea Leoni and Patricia Arquette rounding out the core ensemble. Add Mary Tyler Moore in a convention breaking role, George Segal, Alan Alda, Lily Tomlin, Richard Jenkins, James Brolin, and a ton of others you'll recognize, all contributing to make a gem of a comedy that is seriously not to be missed. One of my favorites from the 90's, at once viciously funny, and unendingly clever, all done with a kind heart at iot's narrative center. It's easily my favorite O. Russel and Stiller film to date. Simply put, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER is the shit!