#28 Dudley Do-Right

The Movie: Dudley Do-Right 1999. Written and Directed by Hugh Wilson. Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Alfred Molina as Snidely Whiplash

I could probably have done this entire month on Brendan Fraser movies. He really made a very specifically humored movie in the 90's, and he made that movie like 45 times. You know what though, I love them all. Blast from the Past? I name dropped that movie yesterday to a chorus of people completely ignoring me! 

So I was so excited when I was reminded of the existence of Dudley Do-Right yesterday, I was so excited to get to work. 

Blah blah blah I'm always wrong. JUMP!

So it's super late, lets cut through all the lame parts where I explain how I feel about stuff in general, and just summarize this pile. We start as any good adaptation should, with the characters we know and love (or at least the characters I know and love) as kids. Dudley Do-right is what his name says he is and wants to be a Mountie, Snidely Whiplash is a cartoonish villain (who's dream is to be the bad guy) and Nell, who is a girl. (As always, I'm not claiming that women can't do everything a man can, the movie is)

Later, everyone is older and all three have done the thing they wanted to do. Snidely is a bank robber, and Dudley almost catches him, but he's too dumb. Then Snidely decides to be fake nice, and fakes love for Nell, who he gets in a relationship with. Dudley tries to win her over and fails. Dudley does a training montage that belongs in Kung Fu Panda. Through a hilarious* misunderstanding, Dudley is seen to be a villain, and this upsets Snidely and eventually this unravels itself in Dudley being awarded Nell like she's a medal at the end of Star Wars. (Again, I'm not saying women are rewards)

I want to love this movie. It has a humor that I find enjoyable, and I really think that it could have worked. Alfred Molina is super into it. In fact, everyone is trying very hard. But none of the jokes work. The bit that worked in George of the Jungle here is just dumb and flat. The plot is also much more convoluted than GOTG, and the plotting of this film is it's real downfall. This movie could have been a fund dumb movie, but it made an 82 min runtime seem like it was never going to end.

Should you watch this movie? No.

Where can you watch this movie? Amazon. or text me I own it.

Recommendation: Tonight, the answer is easy. If you want this movie to be good, look no further than George of the Jungle. A movie that objectively shouldn't work, but does because of the right mixture of homage to the television show, and crazy dumb shenanigans. (although the same amount of women as rewards for strong men) It's still pretty funny, and it's worth a watch if you haven't seen it.