The Farrelly brothers have brought us such comedies as Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary and Shallow Hal and gradually have been moving from the slapstick style comedy that made them famous to more mainstream comedy delivering a message.
Shallow Hal started this trend and Stuck On You continues it on with a tiny dose of what has made the Farrellys popular, but it just doesn’t work.
Stuck On You follows two conjoined twins, Walt (Kinnear) and Bo (Damon), who have been joined since birth by an eight-inch piece of flesh at the hip. Having created quite a name for themselves in their hometown of Martha’s Vineyard owning their own burger joint and Walt delving into acting at the local theatre, but now his eyes have grown bigger and the Vineyard is just too small for what Walt has set his sights on, Hollywood.
Walt convinces his brother to pack up and move to Los Angeles so he can strive to become the actor he dreams to be, but once in Tinseltown he finds that it might not be that easy as they are laughed out of every agent they meet until the day they meet Cher.
Playing a made-up bitchy side of the queen of the thong Cher is trying desperately to get out of a contract involving a television show she has signed on to do she decides to exercise the power she has been given to cast Walt as her co-star thinking the plan will be the ultimate way of stopping production and getting her out of her deal, but Walt has other ideas. As the show gains popularity and Walt’s stock rises Cher’s plan just may be foiled.
Starting off this flick gives you the slapstick you are used to as one of them is run into a pole and then left outside the side of a bus door, but even those scenes just aren’t funny and a little too obvious. Don’t get me wrong, there are laughs, but not enough to keep this one afloat.
Stuck On You is a film looking for an audience and in the attempt to appeal to everyone it ultimately appeals to no one.
Cast perfectly the characters of Walt and Bo played by Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon are loveable, and their new friend at the seedy Rising Star apartments played by Eva Mendes is perfect; sexy and a bit dimwitted she loves the boys for who they are and embraces their disability instead of pushing it away.
The film starts off funny but in its attempts not to offend it loses its intrigue and personality and turns form a comedy into a heartwarming story of two men joined at the hip, but the balance between the two doesn’t work and leaves the production with something missing.
The Farrellys are currently busy writing a film production of The Three Stooges and we can only hope that they venture back into what made Dumb and Dumber so funny and leave the heartwarming attempts to the thousands of dramas being produced. The talent they possess is made for the fall down comedy that brought them to stardom.
I can’t recommend you set out to the theaters to see Stuck On You but it might not be a bad rental once it hits the DVD shelves.
