Serving Sara

Last updated
Serving Sara
Serving Sara Movie Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Reginald Hudlin
Written byJay Scherick
David Ronn
Produced by Dan Halsted
Starring
CinematographyRobert Brinkmann
Edited by Jim Miller
Music by Marcus Miller
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • August 23, 2002 (2002-08-23)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$29 million [2]
Box office$20.1 million

Serving Sara is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin and starring Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, and Bruce Campbell. The story follows a process server given the assignment to serve a British socialite with divorce papers, but is persuaded to serve her husband instead so that she can get a larger portion of his money in the divorce. The film was panned by critics and did poorly at the box office, debuting in the top 10 when it was released on August 23, 2002, in the US, where it grossed only $5,750,000 on the weekend.

Contents

Plot

Joe Tyler, a process server, is a week late serving a Mafia kingpin known as Fat Charlie with a summons to appear as a witness in court. Joe's abrasive boss Ray ridicules him while complimenting Joe's rival, Tony, for serving multiple summonses in record time. Willing to give Joe one last shot, Ray gives him an assignment to serve British socialite Sara Moore with divorce papers from her husband, Gordon, who is at his ranch in Texas with his mistress, Kate, while Sara is vacationing in upstate New York.

While Joe is attempting to serve Sara, Tony tips her off, thus revealing that Joe has been failing lately because Tony is sabotaging his efforts. Eventually Joe does serve her, but is mugged soon thereafter. Joe and Sara are forced to take the same bus; while they are riding together, Joe informs her that, under Texas law, she stands to gain nothing from the divorce. When she learns that "half of everything" would apply if the papers had been served under New York law, Sara offers Joe a million dollars to serve her husband and rip up her papers. Despite knowing that he might lose his job, Joe agrees and the two set off together to serve Gordon.

When Ray hears of their plan, he informs Gordon and sends Tony off to re-serve Sara. Gordon hires a bodyguard named Vernon to protect himself, and Joe, expecting Tony to tail him, leaves a set of bogus clues that lead Tony to Miami, Florida, Bangor, Maine, and then Amarillo, Texas, where Tony is shot in the back as he attempts to get on the grounds of the wrong ranch to try to serve the papers. Sara and Joe trail Gordon to his ranch, but Gordon evades them. At the ranch, Sara takes some money and Gordon's passport so that he cannot leave the country. Sara and Joe stay overnight at a hotel, and Joe tells Sara of his dream of owning a vineyard. While Sara is bathing, Joe goes to the bar, and Gordon's mistress appears to suggest a new deal to Joe; for one million dollars from the divorce settlement, she will reveal Gordon's location. Joe agrees, but the entire deal is a setup to get Tony into the hotel room to serve Sara, which he does. Furious, Sara kicks Joe out.

While Joe contemplates his lost fortune and budding affection for Sara, he notices Tony's watch in the picture Tony took of him serving Sara, and calls Ray to inform him that Tony forgot to set his watch to Central Time Zone, so that the papers do not take effect until 7:04 pm Central Time. With mere minutes until they both lose a fortune, Joe and Sara trail Gordon to a monster truck rally. They chase Gordon and evade both Vernon and Tony, and with seconds to spare, Sara knocks Gordon down by dropping a six-pack of beer on his head. Joe serves him under New York law and Gordon receives the papers. Tony and Vernon are carried out of the stadium on stretchers (due to Tony accidentally running over Vernon) and then attempt to fight one another. The final scene shows Joe and Sara at Joe's vineyard, where they taste-test a bottle of Joe's first vintage before going inside to have sex.

Cast

Production

Matthew Perry was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction during the production. He was working on the show Friends and filming Serving Sara at the same time. He was taking Xanax, Methadone, and drinking a quart of vodka a day. Filming was delayed for two months while Perry went to rehab. [3]

Reception

Critical response

Serving Sara was panned and received negative reviews from critics. Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 18 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". [4] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 4% of 113 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.2/10.The website's consensus reads: "A romantic comedy that's neither funny nor particularly romantic, Serving Sara is a forgettable time waster." [5] It was ranked number 82 in a Rotten Tomatoes editorial on the 100 worst movies of all time. [6]

Cynthia Fuchs from PopMatters found the progression of the plot "increasingly incoherent, a string of rehashed sight gags based in insipid vulgarity." [7] Entertainment Weekly 's Lisa Schwarzbaum described the film's humor as being "a cattle ranch full of joke droppings and mooing shtick not worth stepping in." [8] Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club said about the film, "[A] third-rate conflation of Midnight Run and It Happened One Night , Serving Sara relies heavily on Perry's perpetually exasperated shtick, which fits more comfortably among the democratic ensemble of TV's Friends ." [9] Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times called it, "One of the more cynical and insulting Hollywood offerings in recent memory," saying that, "Unfunny and lacking any sense of commitment to or affection for its characters, the Reginald Hudlin comedy relies on toilet humor, ethnic slurs." [10] In a review for The New York Times , Stephen Holden criticized the film for utilizing a similar cattle gag scene from the Farrelly brothers comedy Say It Isn't So to grab laughs from the audience, saying that "Some jokes, apparently, are just so uproarious they have to be recycled." He also gave note of the performances of Perry and Hurley, finding the latter coming out unscathed but felt the former doesn't do well because "his blocky, charmless screen presence and attitude of blustery impatience make the movie sometimes hard to watch." [11]

Box office

The film opened at #6 at the U.S. box office and earned $5.7 million in its opening weekend. The film had a budget of $29 million and the film's total gross in the United States was $16.9 million. [2] The film grossed a further $3,215,965 at the international box office. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Toxic Avenger</i> (1984 film) 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman

The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 American superhero black comedy splatter film directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman from a screenplay by Joe Ritter, based on a story by Kaufman. The film was produced and released by Troma Entertainment. It is the first installment in The Toxic Avenger film series and generated a media franchise.

<i>Fools Rush In</i> (1997 film) 1997 film by Andy Tennant

Fools Rush In is a 1997 American romantic comedy film starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek, directed by Andy Tennant.

<i>Sweet Home Alabama</i> (film) 2002 American romantic comedy-drama film

Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic film directed by Andy Tennant. Written by C. Jay Cox, it stars Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey. The supporting cast includes Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, Candice Bergen, Ethan Embry, and Melanie Lynskey. It was released in the United States on September 27, 2002, by Buena Vista Pictures. The film takes its title from the 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name. It received a mixed critical reception, but was a success at the box office.

<i>Lady and the Tramp II: Scamps Adventure</i> 2001 American direct-to-video animated film

Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure is a 2001 American animated direct-to-video musical romance film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, and the sequel to Disney's 1955 animated feature film Lady and the Tramp. This film was released on February 27, 2001, 46 years after its predecessor in 1955. It involves Lady and Tramp's only son, Scamp, who runs away from his home and joins a gang of stray dogs. He also ends up in a romantic affair with one of the gang's members, Angel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Liotta</span> American actor (1954–2022)

Raymond Allen Liotta was an American actor. He first gained attention for his role in the film Something Wild (1986), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. He was best known for his portrayals of Shoeless Joe Jackson in the film Field of Dreams (1989) and Henry Hill in the film Goodfellas (1990). Liotta appeared in numerous other films, including Unlawful Entry (1992), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), John Q. (2002), Identity (2003), Killing Them Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Marriage Story (2019), and Cocaine Bear (2023).

<i>Blood Feast</i> 1963 American splatter film by Herschell Gordon Lewis

Blood Feast is a 1963 American splatter film. It was composed, shot, and directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis, written by Allison Louise Downe from an idea by Lewis and David F. Freidman, and stars Mal Arnold, William Kerwin, Connie Mason, and Lyn Bolton. The plot focuses on a psychopathic food caterer named Fuad Ramses (Arnold) who kills women so that he can include their body parts in his meals and perform sacrifices to his "Egyptian goddess" Ishtar.

<i>Dead Presidents</i> 1995 film directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes

Dead Presidents is a 1995 American crime film co-written, produced and directed by the Hughes Brothers. The film chronicles the life of Anthony Curtis, focusing on his teenage years as a high school graduate and his experiences during the Vietnam War as a Recon Marine. As he returns to his hometown in The Bronx, Curtis finds himself struggling to support himself and his family, eventually turning to a life of crime.

<i>Married to the Mob</i> 1988 American film directed by Jonathan Demme

Married to the Mob is a 1988 American crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Modine as the undercover FBI agent assigned the task of investigating her mafia connections.

<i>Diary of a Mad Black Woman</i> 2005 film directed by Darren Grant

Diary of a Mad Black Woman is a 2005 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Darren Grant and written by Tyler Perry. Inspired by the play of the same name, it marks Perry's feature film debut and is the first entry in the Madea film franchise. Starring Perry alongside Kimberly Elise, Steve Harris, Shemar Moore, and Cicely Tyson, it tells the story of a woman who is thrown out of her house by her husband on their 18th wedding anniversary and subsequently moves in with her grandmother, and is the only film written, but not directed, by Perry.

<i>Intolerable Cruelty</i> 2003 film by Joel Coen

Intolerable Cruelty is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed, co-written and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen, and produced by Brian Grazer and the Coens. The script was written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone and Ethan and Joel Coen, with the latter writing the last draft of the screenplay. The film stars George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Herrmann, Paul Adelstein, Richard Jenkins and Billy Bob Thornton. It premiered at the 60th Venice International Film Festival and was released in the United States on October 10, 2003.

<i>Showtime</i> (film) 2002 film by Tom Dey

Showtime is a 2002 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Tom Dey. The film stars Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy in the lead roles alongside Rene Russo, William Shatner, Pedro Damian and De Niro's real life daughter Drena De Niro. The film was released in the United States on March 15, 2002. The film received generally negative reviews, with critics lamenting its lackluster humor and poor attempt to satirize the buddy cop genre. It received two nominations at the 23rd Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Actor, and Worst Screen Combo.

<i>Angels in the Outfield</i> (1994 film) 1994 film by William Dear

Angels in the Outfield is a 1994 American family sports fantasy comedy-drama film directed by William Dear. It is a remake of the 1951 film of the same name. It stars Danny Glover, Tony Danza and Christopher Lloyd, and features several future stars, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Adrien Brody, Matthew McConaughey, and Neal McDonough. It was followed by two made for TV sequels, Angels in the Endzone and Angels in the Infield. It was released less than a month before the 1994 MLB Baseball Strike, which forced the league to cancel the playoffs and the World Series.

<i>Carefree</i> (film) 1938 American musical film by Mark Sandrich

Carefree is a 1938 American musical comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Ralph Bellamy. With a plot similar to screwball comedies of the period, Carefree is the shortest of the Astaire-Rogers films, featuring only four musical numbers. Carefree is often remembered as the film in which Astaire and Rogers shared a long on-screen kiss at the conclusion of their dance to "I Used to Be Color Blind," all previous kisses having been either quick pecks or simply implied.

<i>The Game Plan</i> (film) 2007 film by Andy Fickman

The Game Plan is a 2007 American sports family comedy film directed by Andy Fickman and with a screenplay by Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price from a story by Millard, Price and Audrey Wells. The film stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, in the lead role; Madison Pettis; and Kyra Sedgwick. It follows a professional quarterback who finds out he has an eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

<i>Waitress</i> (2007 film) 2007 film by Adrienne Shelly

Waitress is a 2007 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, starring Keri Russell as a young woman trapped in a small town and an abusive marriage, who faces an unwanted pregnancy while working as a waitress. The film premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on May 2, 2007, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Shelly's supporting role is her final film appearance before her death. In 2015, Waitress was adapted into a Tony-nominated musical of the same name.

<i>Four Christmases</i> 2008 American Christmas comedy film

Four Christmases is a 2008 American Christmas comedy film starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon with Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Voight, and Sissy Spacek in supporting roles. The film is director Seth Gordon's first studio feature film. It tells the story of a couple who must travel to four family parties after their vacation plans get canceled due to dense fog. The film was produced by New Line Cinema and Spyglass Entertainment and released by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 26, 2008.

<i>Looper</i> (film) 2012 film by Rian Johnson

Looper is a 2012 American science fiction action-thriller film written and directed by Rian Johnson, and produced by Ram Bergman and James D. Stern. It stars Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt. It revolves around "present-day" contract killers called "loopers" sent back through time by criminal syndicates from the future.

<i>Don Jon</i> 2013 film by Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Don Jon is a 2013 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, and Julianne Moore, with Rob Brown, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, and Tony Danza in supporting roles. The film premiered under its original title Don Jon's Addiction at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2013, and was released in the United States on September 27, 2013. The film grossed $41 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics.

<i>The Kid</i> (2019 film) 2019 film

The Kid is a 2019 American Western film directed by Vincent D'Onofrio, from a screenplay by Andrew Lanham. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Dane DeHaan, Jake Schur, Leila George, Chris Pratt, Adam Baldwin, and Vincent D'Onofrio.

<i>Safety</i> (2020 film) 2020 film by Reginald Hudlin

Safety is a 2020 American biographical sports drama family film based on the story of Ray McElrathbey, a football player who battled family adversity to join the Clemson Tigers. Directed by Reginald Hudlin, produced by Mark Ciardi, and written by Nick Santora, the film features Jay Reeves in the lead role. The feature film, a Walt Disney Pictures production, was made available to stream on Disney+ from December 11, 2020. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

References

  1. ↑ Harris, Dana (December 17, 2001). "Mandalay on road with Summit". Variety . Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Serving Sara (2002) - Financial Information". The Numbers . Archived from the original on 2022-12-03. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  3. ↑ Mary Kate Carr (2022-11-10). "Elizabeth Hurley on Matthew Perry: Lovely man, nightmare working with him". The A.V. Club . Archived from the original on 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
  4. ↑ "Serving Sara Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Serving Sara (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on June 1, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Bad Movies: The 100 Worst Movies of All Time". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on February 21, 2024. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  7. ↑ Fuchs, Cynthia (August 21, 2002). "Serving Sara (2002)". PopMatters . Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  8. ↑ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (August 28, 2002). "Serving Sara". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  9. ↑ Tobias, Scott (August 30, 2002). "Serving Sara". The A.V. Club . The Onion. Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  10. ↑ Dargis, Manohla (August 23, 2002). "'Serving Sara' Does No Service to Anyone, Viewers Least of All" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
  11. ↑ Holden, Stephen (August 23, 2002). "Rich Man Wants a Divorce; His Wife Has Her Own Plans" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  12. ↑ Serving Sara at Box Office Mojo. RetrievedAugust 29, 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.