I still can’t entirely believe that I went to see a movie called “The Stupids.” But, whatever the twisted reason is that I went, I laughed harder than I have at any movie all year long.
First of all, when he is being properly stupid, Tom Arnold is one of the funniest men alive. This starring role is perhaps perfect for him - he plays Stanley Stupid, a man who is on the trail of the evil individuals that are stealing his garbage.
No, you don’t need glasses. Believe it or not, the plot of “The Stupids” revolves around Stanley searching for the evil and demonic conspiritors that are stealing his garbage, week in and week out.
There really isn’t any thing to compare this movie to; the characters are so overwhelmingly dense it’s hard to imagine what you’re seeing was actually budgeted for the big screen. The dumbest sitcom you’ve ever seen cannot even compete with this.
At about this point in my review I usually start a summary of the plot. But in this case, that really doesn’t apply. All the better, though. The less this movie adhered to any sort of storyline, the better it got.
To illustrate my point, I’ll give a brief description of the opening of the film. Stanley Stupid, curious about who is stealing his garbage, stakes out his front lawn, and then chases the garbage truck for hours on rollerblades (after all, eight wheels is better than four.)
Concerned that someone kidnapped their father, the Stupid children leave on their bikes for the police station leaving the fragmented note for their mother: “police kidnapped children.”
So then Mrs. Stupid gets in her car and goes to rescue her children. But a policeman is taking the children home while she is going to save them, and when the kids get home, they think the same people that kidnapped dad took mom, too.
I fear getting tongue-twisted at the keyboard to go any farther, but it does, in a sense, get more confusing. But, luckily, it doesn’t matter. If all of the scenes from “The Stupids” were taken horribly out of context (like they nearly are anyway) they would still be delightful and uproariously funny.
If nothing else, “The Stupids” is an example of a movie that fulfills every promise it makes. With a name like that, it has to be funny, which it is. After all, any movie starring Tom Arnold can’t be mistaken for anything else.
Grade: A