Susan Granger’s review of “Serving Sara” (Paramount Pictures)
Warning: There are many definitions of “time waster” but this movie must surely be one of them. The inane plot revolves around Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry), a cynical process server, being assigned to serve divorce papers to Sara Moore (Elizabeth Hurley), the unsuspecting wife/partner of Gordon (Bruce Campbell), a Texas cattle rancher. Sara initially eludes him but when Joe finally finds her, she makes a counter-offer. She’ll give him $1 million to serve Gordon instead, a sneaky legal maneuver which will give her 50% of his fortune. What ensues is so stupefyingly awful that there must be an explanation. Perhaps it’s because Matthew Perry (Chandler on TV’s “Friends”) took time off filming for rehab for alcohol and pain-killer addiction or because Elizabeth Hurley (“Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”) was trolling for the father of her then-unborn child. Who knows? But there’s zero chemistry between them, which poses an insurmountable problem since this is intended to be a screwball romantic comedy. And that still doesn’t excuse the lame, stereotypical characters and formulaic script by Jay Scherick and David Ronin (TV’s “Spin City” writers) nor the ineptitude of director Reginald Hudlin (“Boomerang”). And who got to the MPAA ratings committee on this one? Not only is it sexually crude in a veterinarian scene but the beauteous Ms. Hurley flashes her bare breasts to a motel clerk in order to get a free room. That’s PG-13? Supporting actors Vincent Pastore (late of TV’s “Sopranos”), as a rival process server, and Cedric the Entertainer, as Joe’s boss, try valiantly but to no avail. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Serving Sara” is an atrocious 1, destined to disappear into the post-Labor Day dumping ground until it’s designated as one of the 10 Worst Pictures of the Year.
