Stuck On You

Reviews > DVD > Apr 2004

By Lorraine CarpenterOkay, the Farrelly brothers have a hard-on for freaks and retards. Half their extras and bit players are kids with Down Syndrome and friends with various physical and mental "issues," not to mention this movie's about conjoined twins played by Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear (left to right). That's sweet, but whereas South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone positively portray defectives and their plight, and play them up for huge laughs (Timmy!), the Farrelly Brothers' obsession with the twin's realistic daily challenges kills the comedy. Damon and Kinnear have plenty of fun showing off their physical coordination (walking, playing sports, fry-cooking) and flexing their sizeable dramatic muscles (conflicting goals, personality crises, interdependency), and, thanks in part to special effects and a feasible explanation for their age difference, they're believable as twins. But who cares? Is this a comedy or not? I've never really appreciated the Farrelly charm, not because of their frat humour (although Shallow Hal is borderline offensive), but because of their penchant for sap. Even their so-called classic, There's Something About Mary, is weighed down by long, laugh-free patches. However, they say that this movie is part of their informal "sweet trilogy," which will end this year with The Ringer, after which they'll presumably get back to funny with their Three Stooges flick. If you bother buying or renting this DVD, check out the trio of featurettes, skip the deleted scenes and please, save yourself from the Farrelly Brothers' commentary, a feature-length listing of all the friends, family members and casual acquaintances they employed as incidental actors, and the two-hour Oscar acceptance speech they'll never make. In their own words, "It's too bad we have so many damn people to mention — we could be talking about filmmaking." (Fox)

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