honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, December 12, 2003

'Stuck on You' works hard at being unobjectionable

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

STUCK ON YOU (PG-13) Two Stars (Fair)

The Farrelly brothers opt for sweet sentimentality over shocking irreverence in their latest comedy about conjoined twin brothers. And the price is fewer laughs. Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear co-star for directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Twentieth Century Fox, 118 minutes.

The Farrelly brothers opt for sweet sentimentality over shocking irreverence in "Stuck on You," their latest comedy about conjoined twin brothers. And the price Bobby and Peter Farrelly pay is fewer laughs.

Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear co-star as Bob and Walt Tenor, who've been joined at the hip all their 32 years. But it's never slowed them down. They're the fastest short-order cooks in the world at the little restaurant they own. They also pitch a mean game of baseball and really clog up the hockey net in the community league.

Walt (Kinnear), the more outgoing of the brothers, is also a popular actor at the local theater in their Martha's Vineyard home, and quite the ladies' man. Bob (Damon) is much more shy — even prone to panic attacks. (When Walt performs a one-man show at the community theater, the attached Bob simply stands next to him on stage, attired all in black.) Then Walt decides to pursue his lifelong dream — an acting career in Hollywood. Though Bob is skeptical that there will be many roles accepting conjoined twins, he loves his brother enough to let him pursue the dream.

Soon they're ensconced in a Hollywood dive motel, waiting calls from Walt's utterly inept agent. The brothers befriend another aspiring actor at the motel (Eva Mendes) and shy Bob finally makes contact with his longtime e-mail mate (Wen Yann Shih). They also meet their idol (Meryl Streep in a funny, uncredited cameo). The boys' career even seems to take off when Cher (also playing herself) hires Walt for her new TV sitcom.

But although life is good, the boys still decide to undergo a dangerous operation to separate them. (They share a kidney. Bob's a lock to survive, but Walt might have trouble.)

The operation is about the only negative in the Tenors' lives — and the only adversity in the amiable, unassuming film.

Curiously, "Stuck on You" seems like the brothers' mea culpa for the several films in which they've been accused of insensitivity toward the disabled. They've always argued they've been misunderstood — that their humor has always been supportive of the disabled. This time, though, there can be no doubt. The film overflows with various sorts of disabilities — and those who have them are always shown in the best possible light.

So, if you like your Farrelly brothers' films outrageous and offensive (as in the infamous "There's Something About Mary"), you won't be stuck on "Stuck on You." You'll only be shocked at how inoffensive the film tries to be.

Rated PG-13, profanity, innuendo.