They don’t come
any lighter or sweeter than Three Men and a Baby. The movie features a
cast of three men who get a big surprise when two of them wake up to find a
baby on their doorstep—a baby that belongs to the third, who’s away filming a
movie.
The movie is a
gem, filled with comedy and charm thanks to the three leads. It’s the kind of
thrill you don’t get often, and it doesn’t rely on the overused trope of people
magically becoming great parents overnight, like you often see on TV. These
guys struggle from the start, and even though they eventually figure things
out, their lives become a living hell as they try to balance everything.
Let me pick up
the plot from where I left off. The three men in question are Peter (Tom
Selleck), Michael (Steve Guttenberg), and Jack (Ted Danson). Jack is the one
who’s away on an acting gig. Peter and Michael are the ones who find the baby
in front of their apartment door, where the three live together.
Apparently, the baby belongs to a woman Jack had worked with before. She thought she could handle motherhood on her own, but the pressure became too much, so she left the baby on the father’s doorstep with a note revealing her name (Mary) and the father’s identity. The men immediately take responsibility for the child but can’t reach Jack because he’s out of the country.
Jack had told
the other two to expect a package that would be sent to him and instructed them
to leave it untouched until someone came to pick it up. Unknown to Jack—who was
receiving the package for a friend—it contained something the police were
looking for. They traced it to the apartment when it was delivered.
The two men
think the baby is the package and can’t wait to get rid of her because she’s a
handful and disrupts their lives. How things turn upside down is what this
movie is all about.
The movie is
based on the 1985 French film Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men
and a Cradle). I haven’t seen the original, so I can’t say which is better. The
only downside to this movie is the script. It feels like it dangles weird
circumstances just to move the plot along, but the comedy and the strength of
the actors make it work.
There’s
chemistry between everyone in the movie—from the villains to Jack’s mom and
even the sweet old lady next door. As long as an actor had more than one scene,
they made the most of it, creating memorable moments and making themselves a
joy to watch.
It’s a nice
movie, though its sequel, Three
Men and a Little Lady (1990), didn’t live up to the charm of this
one.
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