The Stupids

I don't believe in guilty pleasures. If you like something, there shouldn't be shame attached to it. But on occasion, there's movies that make me think that guilty pleasures might not be such a bad notion. And what better way to wrap up my John Landis kick than with a movie that borders on guilty pleasure for me. A movie that I know is stupid. In fact, it is 1996's The Stupids.

Back in the mid 90's, Tom Arnold was riding on high on his 15 minutes of fame. But after films like Carpool and Big Bully, that clock was ticking fast. It was a strange time when the words Tom Arnold and Leading Man made sense when combined. I think even Tom Arnold might have seen what a ridiculous notion this was, but he took full advantage of it. Teaming with the legandary Landis, who at this time was desperate for a hit. His last three films Oscar, Innocent Blood, and Beverly Hills Cop 3 tanked at the box office. They teamed up to bring a popular children's book series, The Stupids, to the big screen. New Line Cinema snagged up the distribution rights, probably hoping that they might have another Dumb And Dumber hit on their hands. The film bombed and put an end to Tom Arnolds' leading man status.

Arnold plays Stanley Stupid, the idiot patriarch to a family of morons. Stanley and his wife Joan, Jessica Lundy, believe that they are in the middle of a conspiracy after their trash is stolen every week by the garbage man. When Stanley follows the garbage man to the city dump, he accidentally gets involved in a real life conspiracy involving an Army Lt., Mark Metcalf, selling weapons to terroists. Not realizing what he has uncovered, Stanley and his family continue on their quest to see why someone is stealing their garbage. All the while, the evil Lt. is trying to get them out of the picture.

This movie is stupid, but I'm also laughing at it as I roll my eyes. I've never been an Arnold fan. That's probably why I'm almost ashamed that I like it. But he is actually pretty good, as is Lundy. The whole family has a childlike innocence that works. There's also a nice cameo from Bob "Captain Kangaroo" Keeshan. Also, there's a funny inside joke about Metcalf's character. His name is Neidermeyer. Neidermeyer is the same name as his character in Animal House, and he was in the military in that movie too. So if you look at it that way, The Stupids is kind of a sequel to Animal House.

The one thing that made me groan in this was that the Stupids had an animated cat and dog. Why? It makes no sense that they would have cartoon animals. But I guess ina movie called The Stupids I shouldn't look for logic.

You'll hate yourself for laughing, but there's a lot of things to laugh at in The Stupids.

Available on dvd.