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No. 62: Flirting With Disaster

Enter Stiller

by
Jody Rosen
December 06, 2011

1996, dir. David O. Russell. David O. Russell’s much-loved mid-’90s indie established Ben Stiller as his generation’s Big Schlemiel—Hollywood’s go-to neurotic Jewish male. Mel Coplin (Stiller) is the adoptive son of neurotic Jewish parents who sets off on a cross-country trek to find his biological mom and dad. Cue truck crashes, LSD mishaps, arrests, assaults with frying pans, and, eventually, touching reconciliations.

Jody Rosen is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.