Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Chrysanthepop Francis Veber remakes his 'Les Fugitifs' into 'Three Fugitives'. Having not seen the original French version, as a standalone, I found this one to be charming, heartwarming and entertaining. It also holds nostalgic value for me as I remember first watching it years ago with an old friend.The film never strays away from the main point and it always stays focused on the three main characters Lucas, Ned and Meg. Veber's direction is decent. He doesn't rely on cheap action thrills, such as grand explosion sequences or outrageous chases. The story is quite straightforward but Veber's prime tool of entrainment is the humour which is very effective. There are some hilarious one-liners and situational humour.With a cast that includes Martin Short, Nick Nolte, James Earl Jone and Alan Ruck, very little can go wrong. Nolte and Short are funny as an odd couple, one an ex-con and another a down-on-his luck desperate father. They work well off one another just like Earl Jones and Ruck do. The scenes between Nolte and young Sarah Doroff are endearing to watch.In the end, 'Three Fugitives' is a funny and 'sweet' movie. It's sweet in the sense that there's just the right level of sugar, not too saccharine like the usual Hollywood flick.

TheLittleSongbird I won't say this is a perfect movie, but I liked it. It was funny, enjoyable and well-performed. One or two moments may drag and the sentimentality is not quite kept at bay, but overall I really liked Three Fugitives.Three Fugitives is beautiful to look at certainly, the sumptuous cinematography and beautiful scenery really gives the film a lovely look to it. The music is good too, as is the direction. The script is very funny and quotable and the story is believable with good action, while the pacing on the whole is secure enough. The acting also helps elevate, Nick Nolte and Martin Short's chemistry mayn't be an immediate classic, but it is believable and both men do really well in their roles especially Short who has plenty of slapstick laughs. And it was a delight to see James Earl Jones again, a great actor with a wonderful, dignified presence and rarely disappoints in his films and this is no exception.In conclusion, an enjoyable film and worth watching at least once. 8/10 Bethany Cox

DAVID SIM I have a personal bias against American remakes of foreign films. They seem to exist to be made only because an English/American audience doesn't relish the idea of having to read subtitles while watching a film. And not many of these remakes work anyway. Look at the dire likes of True Lies and Three Men and a Baby.Three Fugitives was no doubt inspired by the recent success of TMAAB. They're both American remakes of French comedies, and Touchstone even took the precaution of importing the director and writer of the original version, Francis Veber. I haven't seen Les Fugitifs so I can't debate how closely Veber sticks to his own material, or if he makes any drastic changes, but as it is, Three Fugitives is an amiable caper, if one that never bursts out with gut busting laughs.Lucas (Nick Nolte) is an ex-con who's decided to go straight. But on the day of his parole, he walks into a bank and right into the middle of a hold-up. Ned Perry (Martin Short) is an incompetent bank robber who wears a nylon stocking for a balaclava. And when the robbery takes much longer then planned, that gives the police enough time to surround the place. In desperation, Ned takes Lucas hostage. But the police, who know of Lucas' track record for armed robberies think he's the robber, meaning these two mismatched men must go on the run together.I admit to enjoying Three Fugitives far more than Three Men and a Baby. They are quite similar films at heart. Both Touchstone financed American remakes of French originals, and the plots both revolve around a youngster. In this case, Ned's mute six-year old daughter Meg. It turns out Ned pulled the robbery because he needed money to send Meg to a special school after being laid off from his job as a sales manager. Meg hasn't spoken a word since her mother died two years ago.Three Fugitives has its funny moments. Ned's bank robbery is so hopeless it gets funnier just watching it all go wrong around him. Like when he shoots the ceiling he gets showered in plaster, his disguise splits open, and when a bank teller throws him the bag full of money, it lands in a ceiling fixture. I also liked the scene when Lucas gets accidentally shot by Ned, and Ned has to take him to a vet to get treated (like a dog!).Its the bits in between that don't really work. All the funny parts come in isolated moments, and Francis Veber's direction isn't fast or frantic enough so the film moves in fits and starts. It seems to take too long for the film to get to anything good. The inclusion of Meg to the plot also seems a miscalculation, and suggests something of the tweeness that capsized Three Men and a Baby.It never really boils over, even if it lacks credibility. But its not helped by Sarah Rowland Doroff's rather flat performance. Even as she begins to open up, she's just as blank in the second half as she is in the first. Nick Nolte and Martin Short have they're amusements, even if they don't exactly have cracking chemistry. They're only paired up together just to play off of each other's obvious differences. So in other words, you're typical buddy movie.Three Fugitives still feels a bit shapeless. It just moves from one spot to the next. Some funny (like Lucas getting a job as a locksmith!). Some cringeworthy (like Ned dressed up as a woman to bypass a border check). And the film doesn't end. It just sort of stops without any real attempt at an ending. Sporadically funny. Forgotten the next day.

Benjamin Cox Most films will stay with you for some time after you've watched them. This can, of course, be a good or a bad thing depending on the quality of the movie and your opinion of it. In many ways, making a movie that leaves the viewer completely detached and uninvolved is almost an achievement in itself and if that was writer/director Francis Veber's objective then I'm happy to say that "Three Fugitives" is a unparallelled success. Being a horrible misfit of crime thriller, action comedy and emotional tearjerker, "Three Fugitives" spends its entire duration going absolutely nowhere.Nick Nolte plays hardened career criminal Lucas who is released from jail after a five-year stretch for his fourteenth armed robbery. On his first day back in society, Lucas is caught up in a bank robbery of someone else's design, namely bumbling nerd Ned (Martin Short). When the police, led by Lucas's nemesis Dugan (James Earl Jones), turn up, they naturally assume that Lucas is responsible and the pair of them escape in the ensuing confusion. Slowly, the two build up a unique partnership that is focused on Ned's traumatised daughter, Meg (Sarah Rowland Doroff).A movie such as this hinges on the relationship between the two leads and personally, I felt that Nolte and Short were not a good combination. Nolte is too restrained for Short's wild physical humour and aside from a few smirks here and there, the comedy felt forced and not particularly funny. Doroff is good but she has nothing to do besides look cute and in my opinion, Jennifer Love Hewitt does that better than anyone else. The whole film feels stuck, endlessly chasing the initial premise around and around until you hardly remember what the point of the film was. It sags badly after the first 45 minutes or so and it never regains its opening promise. It is also badly edited - even someone like me (who rarely spots continuity errors and such) spotted a whole host of mistakes and plot holes that really should have been dealt with before being released."Three Fugitives" starts out promising but all too quickly runs out of steam and then surrenders. It never gets out of second gear and the whole thing never engages or stimulates the viewer. It is a celluloid sedative, stretching out every minute of its duration. It isn't the worst movie ever made but a lot of viewers will not enjoy a film that never makes up its mind what it wants to be and spends 90-odd minutes being nothing. A handful of people may get something from this but this is a quiet little movie, barely noticeable on the CVs of Short or Nolte (who looks remarkably young in this!) and not worth the effort. Sorry but this is one movie that I will not be pursuing in future, unless I wanted to go to sleep.