The spectre of Cameron Diaz hangs heavily over "Lost & Found," and not just because the film climaxes with David Spade rocking out with a version of Neil Diamond's "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" that outdoes Diaz's tuneless rendition of "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself" in "My Best Friend's Wedding.
Long before that unnerving sight, anyone who went to the movies last summer will recognize "Lost" for what it is: a diluted variation on Diaz's blockbuster "There's Something About Mary." Instead of bodily fluids in hair, "Lost" offers dog excrement being smeared on the face; in place of the now-infamous zipper gag, we get Spade trying to conceal his naked figure in an apron after losing big in a strip poker game.
For the under-12 crowd who couldn't persuade Mom and Dad to rent "Mary" for them, this might serve as a decent substitute. But anyone who's not a dyed-in-the-wool Spade fan might be crying "Just Shoot Me" well in advance of the closing credits - which, by the way, try to do for Deee-Lite's "Groove is in the Heart" what "Mary" did for the Foundations' "Build Me Up Buttercup."
Spade, with customary smirks intact, plays Dylan Ramsey, a bistro owner who spends considerably more time trying to put the make on comely French neighbor Lila (Sophie Marceau) than he does putting out kitchen fires and dealing with customers.As part of his plot to catch Lila's eye, Dylan kidnaps her beloved dog Jack, and when Lila becomes distraught over her chien's disappearance, Dylan is right there with a shoulder to cry on.
Unfortunately, it's Dylan's turn to weep when the voracious Jack swallows a diamond ring Dylan was holding on to for a friend. And the tears just keep on coming as one of Dylan's employees, the relentlessly jolly Wally (Artie Lange) decides to turn himself into a clone of the boss.
Lange, in a part obviously designed to position him as a replacement for the late Chris Farley (Spade's co-star in "Tommy Boy" and "Black Sheep"), comes off as merely a pale imitation; say what you will about Farley, but he had considerably more bluster and gusto than this new model. As for Marceau, she's adorable and earned every franc of her paycheck.
But the primary fun here comes from an unbilled cameo by Jon Lovitz as a "certified dog whisperer" Dylan enlists in the hopes of retrieving the ring. To call the rest of the humor in "Lost & Found" hit or miss would be kind.
James Sanford
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