Damon and Kinnear are Joined at the Hip
When you think of the movies which the Farrelly Brothers have given us one of the first things to come to mind is the willingness to push the boundaries. Not in the sense of technology or as in compelling stories but when it comes to good taste, they are not afraid of being intentionally or unintentionally offensive with their style of comedy. But when you look at "Stuck on You" it almost doesn't feel like a Farrelly Brothers movie because whilst it does throw up some dubious comic scenarios thanks to a grown up set of conjoined twins it doesn't feel so offensive. What "Stuck on You" does feel is utterly daft but with a surprising touch of cleverness drawn out of the various set piece scenes.
For 30 odd years Bob (Matt Damon - The Bourne Identity) and Walt (Greg Kinnear - You've Got Mail) have done everything together which is little wonder seeing that they are conjoined twins. They have happy enough lives with their own burger restaurant and Walt's annual amateur dramatic show. But that all changes when Walt decides he wants to pursue being an actor and so they head to Hollywood in search of the dream, or at least Walt's. Success comes when Cher casts Walt in her TV show but it could soon drive a wedge between them as they start to want different things.
There is a certain amount of predictable ness to "Stuck on You" from the various jokes through to the storyline which when tackling 2 grown men joined at the hip so to speak is really going to only end up going one way. As such it is a movie which despite having plenty of story, from Bob's 3 year online friendship with May through to Walt getting his dream acting job working alongside Cher, doesn't really need it. In fact at just short of the 2 hour mark the combination of the various storylines makes it drag a little and feel a little drawn out and dull.
But despite this and true to what the Farrelly brother's do so well there is plenty of comedy going on and with the set up of conjoined twins there's plenty of opportunity to deliver set piece laughs. As such we do get a lot of obvious jokes and scenes such as sleeping arrangements especially with other women, growing up playing sports and so on and whilst they're all very obvious they still make you laugh. Alongside this there are some less obvious jokes such as a nightclub fight scene. But what is strange is that whilst the jokes border on the crass they don't really offend or at least not in the same way that other Farrelly movies have achieved.
In amongst all the gags surrounding being joined at the hip there is also a cleverness as the Farrelly's take into account certain aspects with a sense of comic realism. The best of which come towards the end of the movie and to explain would be to spoil things but whilst not a touching movie there are some quite nice scenes which show a little depth to things.
What makes it all work though is the pairing of Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as Bob and Walt Tenor delivering the whole conjoined side of things brilliantly. Instead of them coming over as being held back by being stuck together it almost feels natural and there is some brilliant comic timing going on between them to make even the most obvious and daftest of jokes funny. Alongside Damon and Kinnear there are some adequate supporting performances from Eva Mendes, Wen Yann Shih and of course Cher who seems to be having fun playing a bitchy TV star.
What this all boils down to is that "Stuck on You" is ultimately another daft movie which whilst having a storyline is really a movie about some set piece gags around conjoined twins. As such there are plenty of obvious gags and scenes many of which are surprisingly funny thanks to the entertaining performances of Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear. But unlike other Farrelly brother movies "Stuck on You" seems almost restrained when it comes to being offensive and even has a surprising touching side to things.
