The Stupids (1996) New Line/Comedy RT: 94 minutes Rated PG (some violence) Director: John Landis Screenplay: Brent Forrester Music: Christopher Stone Cinematography: Manfred Guthe Release date: August 30, 1996 (US) Cast: Tom Arnold, Jessica Lundy, Bug Hall, Alex McKenna, Mark Metcalf, Matt Keeslar, Bob Keeshan, Frankie Faison, Harvey Atkin, Christopher Lee, David Ferry, Rolonda Watts. Box Office: $2.5M (US)
Rating: ***
It says it right in the title, The Stupids is stupid. But like Forrest Gump says, stupid is as stupid does. At least I think it applies here. Oh, what does it matter? Let’s get on with it, shall we?
Based on the children’s books by Harry Allard, The Stupids is about a family named Stupid whose behavior and actions are synonymous with their surname. Directed by John Landis (Animal House), it came out the final weekend of summer ’96 to critical jeers and poor box office. It wasn’t screened in advance which is the biggest tell of all. New Line, which acquired The Stupids along with four other titles when Savoy Pictures went under*, felt they had a stinker on their hands and acted accordingly. I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised when The Stupids didn’t meet them. Instead, it exceeded them. This movie is a freaking riot!
The Stupid family consists of father Stanley (Arnold, True Lies), mother Joan (Lundy, Caddyshack II), son Buster (Hall, The Little Rascals) and daughter Petunia (McKenna, Campfire Tales). They also have a Claymation dog and cat named Kitty and Xylophone respectively. Stanley is determined to get to the bottom of who’s been stealing his garbage every week when he puts the can on the curb. He follows the garbage truck to the local dump and finds himself in the middle of an illegal arms deal being conducted by Col. Neidermeyer (Metcalfe, Animal House). Thinking Stanley is a secret government agent, Neidermeyer repeatedly tries to have Stanley killed only for him to inadvertently foil each attempt on his life.
Joan, believing her children have been kidnapped by the police, goes out to look for them. Buster and Petunia, believing their parents have been kidnapped by a Chinese restaurant, go out to look for them. When the family finally reunites, Stanley concocts this elaborate conspiracy built around an evil villain named “Mr. Sender” (played by Christopher Lee in a hilarious cameo) who steals everybody’s garbage and mail. A former postal worker, he believes the “Return to Sender” stamp on undeliverable mail means something nefarious. When he brought it up to his supervisor, he got sacked. The Stupids take it upon themselves to end his reign of terror while Neidermeyer keeps trying to kill Stanley so his illegal arms deal can go through. Oh, there are a couple of aliens in a spaceship targeting the Stupid patriarch too. Of course, the Stupid clan never understands what’s really going on thus living up to their last name.
I’m not sure if The Stupids is the kind of movie that can be defended. Watching it is an existential experience. There’s nothing rational or empirical about it. It simply is. The beholder has the choice to accept or reject it and its philosophy of….. I don’t rightly know. All I know is that it made me laugh out loud and often. It gets more and more outlandish as it progresses. One of my favorite bits is Stanley and Petunia encountering The Lord aka “The Lloyd” (Faison, The Silence of the Lambs) during a visit to a planetarium. They believe he has the answers to all life’s questions. It’s a great scene. Not only that, it makes clear the Big Guy’s position on not properly disposing one’s chewed gum (Lloyd’s against it).
Landis was in a career slump when he made The Stupids. After giving the world comedy classics like Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places and Coming to America, he went downhill with flops like Oscar (which I like), Innocent Blood, Beverly Hills Cop III and The Stupids which he followed with another flop, Blues Brothers 2000. It bears the usual trademarks of the director’s work including his customary “See You Next Wednesday” reference and a host of celebrity cameos including filmmakers Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), David Cronenberg (Dead Ringers), Norman Jewison (Moonstruck), Robert Wise (West Side Story) and Costa-Gavras (Missing). The antagonist’s name is obviously a reference to his character in Animal House. Clearly, Landis and everybody else are having fun. Why shouldn’t we?
The Stupids has plenty else going for it. It has Bob Keeshan aka Captain Kangaroo as a museum curator who becomes a person of interest to the Stupids. Could I be because his name is Charles Sender? It has Harvey Atkin (Morty from Meatballs) whose very presence lets us know that The Stupids was filmed in Canada. He plays a delivery guy from “Floyd’s Deli”. Hmmm, Lloyd and Floyd, that could get complicated…. or not. Oh yeah, Arnold belts out an amusing little ditty called “I’m My Own Grandpa” on a trashy TV talk show.
Speaking of Tom, The Stupids is the third cheesy comedy in which he starred in ’96 following Big Bully and Carpool (which came out the week before). He’s pretty good in it. I love how he just goes with the flow in scene after scene of gleeful obliviousness. One funny scene has him trying to start his car by giving it mouth-to-mouth which results in an electric shock that gives him a rare moment of clarity. Meanwhile, the dog has the keys in his paw. Yes, the pets are the smart ones in that suburban household. Lundy has some good moments as the wife. Hall and McKenna are great as the Stupid offspring.
The overall look of The Stupids is eye-catching. The production design by Phil Dagort leans heavily on primary colors resulting in a pristine universe. The costumes by Deborah Nadoolman are a mess of gaudy floral prints and huge petticoats. I love the look of the movie as much as its scattershot narrative and total randomness. It’s a highly imaginative comedy filled with jokes and gags that work precisely because they’re aimed at 10YOs and those with IQs lower than their body temperature. Like I said, it simply is and content to be such.
*= Faithful, A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, Heaven’s Prisoners and The Adventures of Pinocchio (the live-action one with Jonathan Taylor-Thomas).
