Hey Folks, Harry here... Saw Pyul bopping around BNAT5 this weekend, but didn't go up and slap him silly for liking CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. He just seemed in a daze everytime I saw him... Here he checks out STUCK ON YOU, and oddly enough I saw a Siamese Twin movie of my own tonight... BIG FISH - personally, I bet he'd still prefer to sleep with the Siamese Twin in this film than in Burton's... I choose Burton's... Yummy yummy!
Hey Harry,
Since you received an absolute assload of Butt-Numb-A-Thon reviews, I decided to pass on writing one up. Suffice to say, that this being my second year attending, BNAT 5 was a jaw dropping and absolutely amazing experience. And with all the fun I had last year, this kicked the crap out of it. Kudos and thanks for having me. That being said, I assume you and the crew were spending Monday recuperating while I, ever willing to take a bullet, caught a screening of the new Farrelly Brothers movie, Stuck on You.
Now before I go any further I have to say this. I hate Farrelly Brothers movies. Hate them. Despise them. Loathe them with every fiber of my being. In fact, after their last film, Shallow Hal, I had sworn off Farrelly brothers movies for good, having given them their 4 previous chances (not including films they produced or directed but didn't write like Osmosis Jones). But then I saw the trailer for Stuck on You and it struck me in an odd way. I had experienced something I had never felt before. Laughter...at a Farrelly Brothers joke. Then again, and again. The trailer had me in stitches. I was philosophically torn. Stick to my ban (The only filmmakers this side of Greg Araki that I'd sworn such an oath to avoid) or do I give it a shot? Well, as you're reading this review, I think you can figure out my decision.
And here's the deal. Stuck on You is good. Really good. It's funny and heart warming, subtle and audacious. This movie provides a broad spectrum of comedy to enjoy, all the while accomplishing something the Farrelly's have never quite pulled off before. They made a movie that has heart. Real heart.
You see, the reason I hate the Farrelly's previous efforts so much is that there is this overt cruelty to all of their films. When they're not playing a spirited game of Kick the Cripple, they are busy filling the screen with the most crude and unimaginative jokes at the expense of characters that we never get the feeling the Farrelly's really like all that much. They have moments, brief moments I'll grant you, where you're allowed to really like someone and laugh at the same time. Moments like those of Charlie's (Jim Carrey's) three black sons in Me, Myself and Irene, particularly the scene in the Helicopter (the only scene to make me laugh.) But by and large the bulk of their humor comes from three legged dogs, kids in helmets and the absolute idiocy of really stupid protagonists.
Stuck on You is a departure from the Farrelly's brand of cruelty and the bow of what I hope is a new direction for the Farrelly's as a whole. The premise of this film comes right out of the Farrelly playbook, a pair of brothers (Played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear), literally connected at the hip try to make their way in Hollywood despite their obvious drawbacks. The Farrelly's, however, have changed up their plays. Sure there's jokes that stem from the limitations of the Brothers disability, but rather than playing it entirely as their downfall (and making jokes about all the things they can't do), instead a bulk of the humor comes from what they can do, what they accomplish working as a team. Bo and Walt draw an enormous strength from their disability and have overcome it in ways that are both amusing and satisfying. And most of all, unlike the usual Farrelly protagonists, they are positively human. Sure, there's a few stupidity jokes and an assortment of standard oddities for which Farrelly comedy is well known (like the motorized chair riding, senile, sleazoid agent Morty O'Reilly) but all of these jokes work because we feel a genuine kinship with Damon and Kinnear which extends to all the people they keep around them.
The story is that one of the Brothers (Kinnear) wants nothing more than to be a Hollywood actor and feels that giving it a shot would also give his shy brother (Damon) a chance to meet his internet girlfriend, who -wait for it- is unaware of his 'closeness' to his brother. Enter Cher, playing herself (no really), who has fallen on rough times and is forced by a contract to make a terrible TV called Honey and the Beaze that she absolutely does not want to be a part of. The contract stipulates that she can pick her own co-star, and in an effort to get the show cancelled, chooses the most unlikely of actors, the attached Kinnear. All the while, Damon is trying to woo his internet girlfriend without having the backbone to tell her the truth about his condition. Now this is the point in the review in which I say 'Hilarity ensues', but you know what? It actually does.
This movie is funny, really honest to god funny, but with a warm chewy center that sends you out more happy for the protagonists than you are laughing about the jokes. While certainly not one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, this was a sheer pleasure to watch and is no doubt one that I'll watch again.
Damon and Kinnear are nothing but sheer charisma in this movie, doing what the two of them do best: Being likeable and gut bustingly funny. Putting these two together as brothers was a masterstroke. Their comedic stylings and timing work together so well that you forget for a moment that Matt Damon really is a conjoined twin (but the special effect guys are so good that you don't see Ben anywhere.) And the humor styles were across the board, from very subtle jokes that only hit a few members of the crowd to insanely hilarious sight gags like Siamese Fu (honest to god the greatest fighting style of all time). This is, in my opinion, the single greatest Farrelly Brothers ANYTHING to date.
However, there were a couple of Farrelly fans who I must say were a slight bit disappointed walking out of Stuck on You. While they enjoyed it for the most part, they felt that it just wasn't a Farrelly Brothers movie. And that's the single greatest problem that this film will have to overcome. This is a Farrelly Brothers comedy for people who hate Farrelly Brothers comedies, and the people who will find themselves the most entertained are those people who think that There's Something that's not Funny About Mary and that Me, Myself and Irene is three protagonists too many.
Me, I'll see it again, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has sworn off the Farrelly's like I once had. The Farrelly have earned one more chance with me. I'll see their next film and I'll be willing to pay to do so. Don't let me down guys, you've did it just right here.
Pyul Mactackle
