Taglines: The one thing that could bring them together is revenge.
A process server makes an unusual alliance with a beautiful but devious woman in this comedy. Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry) is a former attorney whose career went bust when he picked up some clients who turned out to be associated with the Mafia. These days, Joe makes his living as a process server, who presents people with legal papers — papers they would usually prefer not to get.
One of Joe’s fellow servers, Tony (Vincent Pastore), is trying to weasel him out of his job, and has starting tipping off Joe’s targets before he can deliver their papers in order to get Joe in dutch with their boss, Ray (Cedric the Entertainer). Joe, however, is able to persuade Ray to give him another chance with a high-profile client, Gordon (Bruce Campbell), a wealthy Texas cattle baron who has decided to divorce his wife and business partner, Sara (Elizabeth Hurley), in order to marry another woman, Kate (Amy Adams).
When Joe presents Sara with the divorce papers, she is shocked by the news, which would cost her her half of the Gordon fortune. After Joe gets carjacked and finds herself on the same bus with Sara, she makes him a deal: If he’s willing to take back the papers, say he never presented them, and serve a divorce petition to Gordon first, she’ll pay Joe an even million dollars.
Serving Sara became the focus of some unexpected controversy during its production — first when Matthew Perry took a brief leave from the production to enter a rehabilitation clinic to fight an addiction to painkillers, and later when Elizabeth Hurley’s former boyfriend, Steve Bing, accused Perry of being the father of Hurley’s child (a charge both Hurley and Perry denied, and was proven false by blood tests).
Serving Sara is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin and starring Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, and Bruce Campbell. Joe Tyler (Perry) is a process server who is given the assignment to serve Sara Moore (Hurley) with divorce papers. He does so, but Moore persuades Tyler to serve Moore’s husband instead so that she can get a larger portion of his money in the divorce. The rest of the film follows their attempt to carry out Sara’s plan.
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. The film grossed only $20,146,150 at the international box office, although Serving Sara has since been more successful with DVD sales and airing on television worldwide.
About the Story
Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry), a process server, is a week late serving a Mafia kingpin known as Fat Charlie (Joe Viterelli) with a summons to appear as a witness in court. Joe’s abrasive boss Ray (Cedric the Entertainer) ridicules him while complimenting Joe’s rival, Tony (Vincent Pastore), 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 (Elizabeth Hurley) with divorce papers from her husband, Gordon (Bruce Campbell), who is at his ranch in Texas with his mistress, Kate (Amy Adams), 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 (Terry Crews) 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 can not 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.
Serving Sara (2002)
Directed by: Reginald Hudlin
Starring: Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, Bruce Campbell, Cedric the Entertainer, Amy Adams, Vincent Pastore, Terry Crews, Marshall Bell, Alan Ackles, Brent Duncan
Screenplay by: Jay Scherick, David Ronn, Carol Leifer, Chuck Martin
Production Design by: Rusty Smith
Cinematography by: Robert Brinkmann
Film Editing by: Jim Miller
Costume Design by: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Set Decoration by: Carla Curry
Art Direction by: Drew Boughton, J. Grey Smith
Music by: Marcus Miller
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for crude humor, sexual content and language.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: August 23, 2002
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