''The Stupids'' is a 1996
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
starring
Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to:
* Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor
* Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide
* Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer
* Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), ...
and directed by
John Landis
John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal ...
. It is based on ''
The Stupids
The Stupids are a fictional family which appear in a series of children's books written by Harry Allard and James Marshall. The Stupids draw their humor from the fact that they are incompetent to the point of confusing the most simple concep ...
'', characters from a series of books written by
Harry Allard and illustrated by
James Marshall.
The film follows the fictional family, the Stupids, with a last name synonymous with their behavior. The story begins with patriarch Stanley Stupid believing "sender" from letters marked "return to sender" is a wicked man planning a conspiracy. Adding several misunderstandings, they unwittingly save the world from military chaos, while believing a fake story about a fictional man named Sender and his plot to confiscate everyone's mail and garbage.
Plot
Stanley and Joan Stupid are convinced they are victims of a conspiracy that steals their garbage every week. In an attempt to uncover this, Stanley follows the garbage truck to the city dump, where he stumbles across Colonel Neidermeyer, who is selling contraband weaponry to a group of terrorists. He believes Stanley to be a secret agent who has uncovered their operation and orders him assassinated, and after several attempts on his life result in him unintentionally killing his would-be assassins, he narrowly escapes a car bomb and is presumed dead by Neidermeyer.
Meanwhile, Stanley and Joan's children, Petunia and Buster, believe they have been kidnapped by a Chinese restaurant and go in search of them. They reunite with Joan, who explains her theory that the police have turned against them and are responsible for Stanley being missing.
Once the Stupids are reunited at home, Joan tells Petunia and Buster about Stanley's last job for the postal service where he discovered all the letters being marked "return to sender", but was fired before he could find out who "Mr. Sender" was. He tells his family about the conspiracy theory he has invented that combines all the ideas their overactive imaginations have created, including the "Evil Mr. Sender" plotting to steal all the mail and garbage from America and employing the police to kidnap anybody who discovers his scheme. When they find local museum curator Charles Sender in the phone book they set off in pursuit, ultimately tracking him to a television studio where Stanley appears on a talk show and is spotted by Niedermeyer who has him kidnapped and brought to the army base.
While being held hostage at the army base, Stanley overhears the address of the warehouse being used for the illegal arms deals. Following an escape, the Stupids go to the warehouse, where they expect to find Sender and the stolen mail. They confront Neidermeyer and his terrorist associates in a battle, resulting in some explosions that cause the police to investigate the warehouse. The associates are arrested but Neidermeyer escapes. Stanley offers what he perceives to be heroic advice about how Sender can repent his evil ways, but he takes them as road directions. The Stupids return home, only to find a vengeful Neidermeyer waiting for them, armed with a handgun. Luckily, just as he is about to kill them, Neidermeyer is knocked out from behind the front door by a deli deliveryman that Joan had called round earlier. In the end, the Stupids celebrate their success with an outdoor barbeque. The aliens show up and attempt to do away with Stanley, but their plan is thwarted.
Cast
*
Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to:
* Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor
* Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide
* Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer
* Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), ...
as Stanley Stupid
*
Jessica Lundy
Jessica R. Lundy (born March 20, 1966) is an American actress best known for her television roles, especially as Joel Fleishman's fiancée/ex-fiancée Elaine Shulman on the series '' Northern Exposure''.
Early life and education
Lundy was born in ...
as Joan Stupid
*
Alex McKenna
Alex McKenna is an American actress and voice-over artist. She gained fame by playing Petunia Stupid in ''The Stupids'' (1996) and Mickey Apple in '' You Wish'' (1997). She resumed her acting career with guest appearances in CW hit teen drama ...
as Petunia Stupid
*
Bug Hall
Brandon "Bug" Hall (born February 4, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his childhood roles as Alfalfa Switzer in ''The Little Rascals'' (1994), Newt Shaw in ''The Big Green'' (1995), and Buster Stupid in ''The Stupids'' (1996).
...
as Buster Stupid
*
Mark Metcalf
Mark Metcalf (born March 11, 1946) is an American television and film actor often playing the role of an antagonistic and aggrieved authority figure.
He is best known for his role as sadistic ROTC officer Douglas C. Neidermeyer in the 1978 Ame ...
as Colonel Neidermeyer
*
Bob Keeshan
Robert James Keeshan (June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004) was an American television producer and actor. He created and played the title role in the children's television program '' Captain Kangaroo'', which ran from 1955 to 1984, the longes ...
as Charles Sender
*
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
as Evil Mr. Sender
*
Matt Keeslar
Matthew Keeslar (born October 15, 1972) is an American retired actor and practicing PA-C (certified physician assistant). He is an instructor of urology at the Oregon Health & Science University's School of Medicine.
Life and career
Matthew ...
as Lieutenant Neal
*
Frankie Faison
Frankie Russel Faison (born June 10, 1949) is an American actor known for his role as Deputy Commissioner, and, later, Commissioner, Ervin Burrell in the HBO series ''The Wire'', as Barney Matthews in the ''Hannibal Lecter'' franchise, and as Suga ...
as Lloyd
*
David Ferry as Late night show host
*
Max Landis as Graffiti artist
* George Chiang as Chinese Waiter #1
;Celebrity
cameos
*
Rolonda Watts
Rolonda Watts (born July 12, 1959) is an American actress, producer, and television and radio talk show host. She is best known for hosting the eponymous '' Rolonda'', an internationally syndicated talk show which aired from 1994 to 1997. Watts ...
as Talk show hostess
*
Jenny McCarthy
Jennifer McCarthy Wahlberg (' Jennifer Ann McCarthy; born November 1, 1972) is an American actress, model, and television personality. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for ''Playboy'' magazine and was later named their Playmate of ...
as Glamorous actress
*
Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...
as TV studio guard
*
Norman Jewison
Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a retired Canadian film and television director, producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre.
He has directed numerous feature films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best D ...
as TV director
*
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...
as Stanley's neighbor
*
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation ...
as Postal supervisor
*
Gillo Pontecorvo
Gilberto Pontecorvo (; 19 November 1919 – 12 October 2006) was an Italian filmmaker associated with the political cinema movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for directing the landmark war docudrama ''The Battle of Algiers'' (19 ...
as Talk show guest
*
Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras (short for Konstantinos Gavras; el, Κωνσταντίνος Γαβράς; born 12 February 1933) is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for films with political and s ...
as Gas station attendant
*
Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha, (born 10 January 1960) is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. The common theme among her work showcases the trials of Indian women living in the UK and ho ...
as Reporter #1
*
Mick Garris
Mick Garris (born December 4, 1951) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter born in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, as well as making Stephen King adaptations.
Early life
Garris was born in Sant ...
as Reporter #2
*
Harvey Atkin
Elliot Harvey Atkin (18 December 1942 – 18 July 2017) was a Canadian actor best known for his roles as Morty Melnick in ''Meatballs'', Sergeant Ronald Coleman in ''Cagney & Lacey'', and for voicing King Koopa in ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Sh ...
as Deli Guy
*
Anthony J. Mifsud as Explosive Guy
Production
The film was shot in Toronto, Ontario (downtown shots) and Uxbridge, Ontario (Home located at 55 Quaker Village Drive,
Uxbridge, Ontario
Uxbridge is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham in south-central Ontario, Canada.
Communities
The main centre in the township is the namesake community of Uxbridge. Other settlements within the township include Altona, Coppin' ...
).
Reception
The film grossed $2,491,989 in North America
[ Retrieved June 29, 2013] from an estimated $25 million budget, and became Landis' weakest performing film.
The film opened to negative reviews. Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gave it a score of 20% based on 15 reviews, as of November 2017. Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave it a grade of "C+" on a scale of A+ to F.
Bruce Fretts of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' gave it a grade F, calling it "Guaranteed 100 percent laugh-free." Derek Elley of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' wrote: "The problem with "The Stupids" is that it isn't stupid enough by half. Lacking both the sheer gross-out humor of "
Dumb and Dumber
''Dumb and Dumber'' is a 1994 American buddy comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly, who cowrote the screenplay with Bobby Farrelly and Bennett Yellin. It is the first installment in the ''Dumb and Dumber'' franchise. Starring Jim Carrey a ...
" and the carefully thought-through tone of the
Brady pics".
John Landis said that he was proud of the film: "I'm happy to say it's very successful on television, and extremely successful on video because people buy it for their kids. It's meant for ten-year-olds. That really went under the radar. But I really like that picture. And that one had a great score by Christopher Stone."
Accolades
At the
1996 Golden Raspberry Awards and 1996
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards (formerly known as the ''Hastings Bad Cinema Society'') was a Los Angeles-based group of film buffs and film critics devoted to honoring the worst films of the year.
The society was founded by Mike Lancaster and Ray ...
, Arnold won
Worst Actor for his performances in ''
Big Bully'', ''
Carpool
Carpooling (also car-sharing, ride-sharing and lift-sharing) is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves.
By having more people usi ...
'', and this film. For the Razzies, it was also nominated for the awards for
Worst Picture
The Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture is an award given out at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst film of the past year. Over the 39 ceremonies that have taken place, there have been 202 films nominated for Worst Picture and 42 ...
,
Worst Director (John Landis), and
Worst Screenplay (Brent Forrester). For the Stinkers, it was also nominated for Worst Picture and Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy; it was also handpicked for the ''Founders Award - What Were They Thinking and Why?'' alongside ''
The Phantom
''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...
''.
References
Notes
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stupids, The
1990s adventure comedy films
1996 comedy films
1996 films
American adventure comedy films
British adventure comedy films
Canadian adventure comedy films
Films based on children's books
Films directed by John Landis
Films shot in Toronto
Golden Raspberry Award winning films
Savoy Pictures films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
1990s Canadian films
1990s British films