Okay, seems that everyone was on a HUGE Francis Veber kick after his "Three Men and a Cradle" got the Yank treatment with Ted Danson, Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg.
Well, then the suits got a bright idea: why not remake EVERY LAST SINGLE ONE of Veber's movies as an American comedy?
Not so bright, it seems, since "Three Fugitives" was included in the package.
I am a great fan of Martin Short; he is a great comedian and has proved it time and again. Just not here; he basically plays a clumsily doting father who turns to a life of crime to help care for his daughter (Doroff).
Meantime, recently released con Nolte finds himself "kidnapped" by Short during a botched bank robbery (admittedly, the film's high point).
And from that moment on, it's all one long, dreary, boring, exhaustive slog of a chase movie/road movie/odd couple-buddy movie/movie-of-the-week movie and over-baked slapstick movie that has an ending that should have ended before it began.
Maybe in a different movie, Nolte and Short would have had better chemistry; here, they just seem like a big, gruff bully (Nolte) forced to tag along with a small, annoying klutz (Short) and his mute, cloyingly cute daughter (Doroff). Not exactly the makings for a classic comedy.
Then again, they worship Jerry Lewis over in France, too.
Two stars for "Three Fugitives". One for the bank holdup scene and another for a scene near the end where Short, in drag, has to fake birthing labor with his daughter's teddy bear under his dress so that he and Nolte can avoid the cops.
Would have made a GREAT short subject.
Well, then the suits got a bright idea: why not remake EVERY LAST SINGLE ONE of Veber's movies as an American comedy?
Not so bright, it seems, since "Three Fugitives" was included in the package.
I am a great fan of Martin Short; he is a great comedian and has proved it time and again. Just not here; he basically plays a clumsily doting father who turns to a life of crime to help care for his daughter (Doroff).
Meantime, recently released con Nolte finds himself "kidnapped" by Short during a botched bank robbery (admittedly, the film's high point).
And from that moment on, it's all one long, dreary, boring, exhaustive slog of a chase movie/road movie/odd couple-buddy movie/movie-of-the-week movie and over-baked slapstick movie that has an ending that should have ended before it began.
Maybe in a different movie, Nolte and Short would have had better chemistry; here, they just seem like a big, gruff bully (Nolte) forced to tag along with a small, annoying klutz (Short) and his mute, cloyingly cute daughter (Doroff). Not exactly the makings for a classic comedy.
Then again, they worship Jerry Lewis over in France, too.
Two stars for "Three Fugitives". One for the bank holdup scene and another for a scene near the end where Short, in drag, has to fake birthing labor with his daughter's teddy bear under his dress so that he and Nolte can avoid the cops.
Would have made a GREAT short subject.