X
- 1986
- PG-13
- The Samuel Goldwyn Company
- 1 h 46 m
- 1986
- PG-13
- The Samuel Goldwyn Company
- 1 h 46 m
Summary Jacques, Pierre, and Michel are three adult friends who enjoy single life until they find themselves stuck with a baby.
Directed By: Coline Serreau
Written By: Coline Serreau
- 1986
- PG-13
- The Samuel Goldwyn Company
- 1 h 46 m
- 1986
- PG-13
- The Samuel Goldwyn Company
- 1 h 46 m
Three Men and a Cradle
44
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Summary Jacques, Pierre, and Michel are three adult friends who enjoy single life until they find themselves stuck with a baby.
Directed By: Coline Serreau
Written By: Coline Serreau
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
44
36% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
43% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
21% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 14 Critic Reviews
44
36% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
43% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
21% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Coline Serreau's comedy about three hardened bachelors saddled with a newborn baby, produced on a modest budget and without bankable talent, is warm, hilarious and well-made. Serreau's direction is bright and confident, avoiding the saccharine pitfalls of the material.
A simple equation, perhaps, but when it comes to comedy, simpler is frequently funnier. This formula has already worked beautifully in France, where the movie has broken all box-office records and has won three Cesars (the French equivalent of the Oscar) including one for best picture.
While the story has few surprises, parts of it are amusing and the performances are convincing.
Serreau directs for maximum freneticism, with her actors rushing around and regurgitating great torrents of imperfectly subtitled dialogue (a gratuitous subplot involving drug traffickers seems to have been inserted just to double the hysteria), and while there are more than a few laughs, most of them are laughs of recognition—seeing these gags again is like coming across long-lost (and vaguely embarrassing) relations.
The point is well taken, but, basically, Cradle is a long rapturous interlude of baby pictures, now and then reinforced with pointed pro-momma dialogue. Even with the politics, it remains just so much French Pablum. [09 May 1986, p.28]
3 Men and a Cradle has precious few laughs. Shot in a strangely grave, twilight style ill suited to the sitcom premise, the movie plods dully from one foreseeable irony to the next. [26 May 1986, p.72]
No one with the slightest knowledge of human nature will be able to find a single moment of this film to believe. It is all formula, every last miserable frame of it.
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Production Company
Flach Film,
Soprofilms,
TF1 Films Production,
Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC),
Ministère de la Culture
Release Date Apr 25, 1986
Duration 1 h 46 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline A story of dry wit and wet diapers
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
César Awards, France
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
