"Brothers stick together"

Stuck on You (2003): 4/10

Poster (c) 20th Century Fox

Different types of comedy is always good. There should always be gross-out, satire, farce, and subtle comedy available. However, Stuck on You, the newest offering by the Farrelly Brothers, is none of those, for it tries to be offensive without being too offensive, because then some people would be offended. It seems here like the Farrellys, who are known for their bad taste, wanted to make fun of conjoined twins, but felt like it may upset some people, so instead they cast them in a loving light, but don’t know what to do with it. Nice comedy does not work for the Farrellys.

Bob (Matt Damon) and Walt (Greg Kinnear) have been stuck together for all of their lives. They have simple lives owning and being short-order cooks at the Quickee Burger. Walt is an aspiring actor and dreams of being an actor in Hollywood. Bob agrees to go with him (obviously) to Hollywood, because Bob’s internet friend May (Wen Yann Shih) lives there, also. Almost immediately, Cher gives Walt a job, but their relationship is soon tested as they continue to live in L.A.

As I said earlier, the Farrellys don’t know what to do with all of their material that isn’t offensive, and since the essence of them is in their ability to offend people, they don’t have anything up their sleeves to show us. They could have gone deeper into the relationship between Bob and Walt, but they barely go into that, and when they do, it isn’t funny (except for the “We’re Off to See the Wizard” thing). Humor is subjective, but I think most agree with me in that most of the movie wasn’t funny.

Being the movie geek that I am, I eat up anything related to Hollywood, so I was excited for when Bob and Walt were going there, hoping to hear some good Hollywood jokes. Unfortunately, about the most of it is Cher yelling at someone. If that makes you laugh, then more power to you, but I think most people require more. I will admit, though, that Cher’s new boyfriend did make me laugh. For the most part, once the scene changes, the laughs don’t.

The effect to make Damon and Kinnear look conjoined looked so fake it looked real. It just looked like some skin attached between the two, and oftentimes it looked like it moved around some. Also, how did they get separate clothes on? It’s a small detail, but it bothered me. Back to the Farrellys for a minute, more jokes could have been made not at the expense of conjoined twins but just with them, something like in Airplane 2: The Sequel.

I don’t understand why everyone makes fun of Damon’s acting, he’s a solid actor, and he wasn’t half bad here, but Kinnear was his better half. The two played off each well, and, amazingly enough, Mendes wasn’t too bad either, but it seemed like everything Shih tried to do was fake. Overall, if you do see Stuck on You, don’t.

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and some language.

Review DatE: December 24, 2003