“There are conventions in this sort of story, and Russell seems to violate most of them. He allows the peculiarities of his characters to lead them away from the plot line and into perplexities of their own.”
Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette star as New Yorkers, Mel and Nancy Coplin. Nancy’s just given birth to their first child, but Mel refuses to decide on a name for their son until he can discover the identity of his biological parents. An adoption agency employee (Téa Leoni) locates his biological mother's name in a database and Mel decides to meet her personally - taking his wife and son with him across America. Written and directed by David O. Russell (Spanking the Monkey, Three Kings, American Hustle, etc.), Flirting With Disaster is a terrific black comedy of a road movie-cum-docudrama with an absolutely brilliant supporting cast that includes Alan Alda, Lily Tomlin, Josh Brolin, George Seagal, and Mary Tyler Moore.
