Quick Review: Uma Thurman is funny. Who would have guessed? I knew Janeane Garofalo was funny. I've seen her standup act. It DID have more than a little EDGE to it, but that's often true of standup comedy. It's to her credit that she understood that wasn't going to work in this role. It's an old premise: Janeane is a radio talk-show pet specialist (hence the bad title) who attracts one of her listeners, newcomer Ben Chaplin, with her voice. When he comes to visit, she gets insecure about her looks and does a twist on the Cyrano concept, getting new friend Uma Thurman to pretend to be her. The rest is the predictable working out of the confusion, but done with a surprising amount of charm. Some of Garofalo's takes on look-ism and the dating game are priceless. Still, it's Uma's ability to handle self-deprecating comedy that is the surprise. Ironically, she's so good at it that she almost belies the premise that Janeane is the deeper of the two.
Excerpts from an interview with Janeane Garofalo.