Out on a Limb

(Francis Veber, USA, 1992)

It sometimes seems that the duty of a film reviewer is to seek and destroy all movies that are considered somehow bad. This is a bizarre vocation. Bad films by conventional standards – those that are misshapen, excessive, improbable, unfamiliar – are often the most compelling. And besides, even the lowliest film usually has some aspect that is worth seeing, remembering and discussing.

Out on a Limb, however, qualifies as one of the few absolutely worthless movies of our (or anybody's) time.

This witless comedy directed by Francis Veber (Three Fugitives, 1989) attempts in vain to be a broad and zany chase film set in the American backwoods.

Beginning as the tale of a dubious stepfather and his evil twin brother (both played by Jeffrey Jones), as narrated by a plucky little girl (Courtney Peldon), it quickly centres on Bill (Matthew Broderick) and his pratfalls amidst boozing hicks, slow-witted cops and a dizzy criminal dame (Heidi Kling).

Sight gag routines from What's Up, Doc? (1972) and Weekend at Bernie's (1989) are listlessly restaged, while the dialogue is as flat as it can possibly be. There is no conviction whatsoever in Veber's attempt to fashion a Bringing Up Baby (1938) for the '90s – a romantic adventure where characters discover their real selves far from the beaten track.

The sad pairing of Jones and Broderick only serves as a reminder of how terrific they both were, once upon a time, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).

© Adrian Martin August 1993