Stuck On You

my rating: Nathan's rating:

The January doldrums have hit the new-releases schedule full force, and Nathan's already seen every other current movie he was interested in (plus a few more). But he's like totally bored with nothing to do over the holidays, and I'd heard some surprisingly good reviews of it, so he and I went to see Stuck On You.

I've avoided the Farrelly brothers' movies very carefully over the years. Being neither an idiot, nor 12 years old, nor a fan of Jim Carrey or Ben Stiller, it's seemed like a good idea. This movie hasn't done anything to make me reconsider my decision to miss Dumb & Dumber, but I will give their future projects a chance. It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

Although there are plenty of dorky gags and pratfalls to amuse those in the cheap seats, Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear play likeable characters who just happen to be be joined at the torso. The inevitable jokes about sex and using the toilet are handled with restraint (the characters talk about it, rather than us seeing it), and for the most part it's a lighthearted dramedy about brotherhood and being your own person.

I do have to admit to getting a huge laugh out of one of the "raunchy" gags, in which the actor whom Cher (playing herself) is very secretly dating is seen in bed with her, and turns out to be Frankie Muniz, who's barely of the age of consent and looks even younger. I enjoy his TV show Malcolm in the Middle (a wacky sitcom with smarts), so it was fun to see him in a cameo here.