Review of Three Fugitives (1989) by Timothy S — 27 Oct 2014

It's not unusual for good movies to take the viewer on a roller coaster ride of emotion. "Three Fugitives" is by no means a good movie, but thematically, it's all over the map and tries for laughs and pathos, sometimes at the same time.

It's an uneasy mix and the end result is that neither the drama or comedy work well enough to cover up the nauseous feeling in the pit of your stomach that comes from the jolting shifts in tone. Take, for instance, the scene in which Martin Short watches his daughter in the orphanage through the fence once she is taken from him. It's meant to tug at the heartstrings, until the sprinkler water hits him square in the face. It's jarring and completely unnecessary, but it does sum up the basic problem of the film.

Unusual casting match-ups were a sign of the times in the 1980's, and teaming Short up with a gruffer-than-normal Nick Nolte must have sounded golden on paper. It comes across as less successful on the screen. The film also suffers from a severe logic deficiency. While I know this is essentially a comedy, the cops in the picture are unbelievably stupid, even more inept at their job than Short is at robbing banks. It's insulting after a while, as is the terrible score by David McHugh. The musical score is not something I normally notice in a film, unless it's this bad.

"Three Fugitives" is a mess of a movie with a good heart. It's just misplaced most of the time, and the audience suffers the consequences.