david spade has a snide , sarcastic sense of humor that works perfectly on the tv sitcom just shoot me .
it also served as a good showcase for him when he co-starred , opposite the late chris farley , in tommy boy and black sheep .
lost and found marks the comedian’s first attempt at going solo in a movie , and it also reveals that when spade doesn’t have a reliable back-up system , his brand of humor seems more desperate than one may expect .
david spade is not the problem with lost and found .
he plays dylan ramsey , the sweet main character , to the best of his abilities .
the story revolves around dylan’s obsessions with his beautiful new neighbour , lila dubois ( sophie marceau , from braveheart ) , and her terrier named jack .
dylan believes that the best way to a woman’s heart is through her dog .
and so he kidnaps jack , planning to stage a fake rescue , in hope to win lila over .
there are three good things about lost and found .
the first is spade .
the second is sophie marceau , a lovely actress who’s been planted into the wrong movie .
lastly , there’s the dog , who is used here in a similar context to puffy from there’s something about mary .
unfortunately , director jeff pollack finds more humor in putting jack through a cycle in the drier than he does with simply making him look cute .
this kind of physical humor is dead .
pollack does everything but beat the poor pooch with a baseball bat to get laughs , and this procedure is cheap , unfunny and resoundingly cruel .
this is where i start to get fuzzy .
also in this unusual blend is ( apparently ) a sweet-natured love story between dylan and lila .
given the mean-spirited comedy that the movie is obviously striving for , i found this hard to swallow .
and , why does dylan even deserve someone like lila , after kidnapping her precious dog and putting it through such pain ?
predictably , lost and found opts for a happy ending , one that feels so sentimental , gooey , and rings so false that it sets off a siren in your head that makes you feel a bit cheated .
david spade ( who also co-wrote the movie ) tries hard , so very hard , to make this project amusing .
there are some choice scenes that are quite funny , but the movie is only sporadically funny .
patrick bruel plays the stock character of rene , the pompous jerk who also wants to win lila over , with his good looks and money .
jon lovitz and martin sheen are welcome additions in two tiny supporting roles .
despite a few positive attributes , lost and found just doesn’t work .
if you’re searching for an enjoyable romantic-comedy , you could do far better than this obvious , misguided failure that shows a blatant disregard for what it’s trying to present .