MovieChat Forums > Three Amigos! (1986) Discussion > This tonal mess doesn't work

This tonal mess doesn't work

posted 2 years ago by avortac4 (3478)
7 replies | jump to latest

The plot is pretty simplistic, it should be possible to make an entertaining popcorn romp out of it.

The thing is, this movie doesn't quite gel, so it doesn't work.

First problem is the casting; not only are the three stars WAY too big on their own to form a coherent, harmonious group - they are more like cell phone towers that, if placed in a certain proximity, will diminish each other's signal - but the villains are WAY, way too sympathetic, so you actually mourn when they die.

Why did they have to cast Alfonso Arau as the main villain, when we already have sympathy for his villainy in Romancing the Stone as the Joan Wilder-fan, 'Juan the smuggler'?

Aww, he can't even drive over his favorite pig, and is proud of his village to the point of wanting to show complete strangers where his mother was born. How can you hate someone like that?

Then you have his friendly, likable charisma in this movie, all smily and loving a sweater and not even RPGRGhring the girl (so unrealistic, but whatever - I mean, this guy has NO QUALMS about shooting men he has never met in the shoulder, dynamiting a village, exploding houses and even RRPGHRing horses, but suddenly stops at a girl he lusts, and does .. nothing. Not even groping or whatnot. I mean, the hollyweird hypocrisy is very strong with this kind of stuff, they want you to think someone is the nastiest nazzy villain ever, but then he won't even dare touch a woman without her absolute consent)..

..how are we supposed to feel when he even has a sense of humor about 5 seconds before he dies? Are we supposed to feel glad he died? I wanted to see more of him.

Just because they put 'dirty teeth' make-up on him and the others, doesn't make them 'rotten' enough for the audience to hate them. HOW SYMPATHETIC is his right-hand man? That actor is just so adorable, I want to be his friend forever and forgive him for his crimes (even though I would never, ever condone doing anything like that).

I mean, he has real humanity and sympathy to him, and they show WAY too many good, relatable conversations with him and El Guapo. Guapo may be crazy and evil, but he's also relatable and likable, and I especially love the whole 'plethora' thing - how many of us just HAD to research 'plethora etymology' after this movie (or during)?

He should've asked 'what does plethora mean' instead of stating 'yeah, you have a plethora', but whatever.

So, we have main stars you can't even take seriously because they act SO weirdly and unrealistically, plus they are enormously huge stars you can't really see as a group, all of them have AMAZING solo movies (Innerspace, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Fletch, to mention just a few).

The ending could have saved things, but it made things worse; the pathos always comes off as fake, but what COULD have saved the ending is, if everything else was the same, but this time, they had a lump in their throat, tears in their eyes and sincerity in their voice when they make those hollow, superficial, fake, learned, scripted speeches in the end, thus ending up ACTUALLY meaning them, that would've saved a lot.

But they didn't. It comes off JUST as plasticky and fake as it always did, they deliver fake speeches in fake voices and do rehearsed routines in a soulless, gimmicky way and that's the movie. They don't get the girls, they don't even get 'bedroom fun' as a reward (because of course, hollyweird can't touch the topic of 'sex' realistically, logically or in a way that men would ever benefit, and can't show cute, innocent-looking women as sexual beings, even though one scene with Chevy kinda hints at that kind of stuff)..

Not to mention the typical, stupid 'men have to do women's dirty work'-type misandry, that ruins the whole thing. Too many convenient coincidences, the boss being unrealistically dismissive of their STAR actors (they HAVE starred in movies, they WOULD have financially exploitable audiences, what the F? What businessman lets his ego get in the way of amassing a fortune??)..

The plot is linear, simple and overly done. At the time, maybe it was a bit novel, but if you have watched 'The Seven Samurai', or Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, this movie doesn't give you anything new. So many movies copied this movie's ridiculous plot afterwards, it makes my head spin - A Bug's Life, Galaxy Quest, etc. Just how many movies have to be made out of the premise of 'certain group of people do not understand what entertainment is'?

If the movie was a bit less wacky (singing horses suddenly, REALLY? WHAT?), it didn't tonally-shift so rapidly all over the place (cold blooded murders everywhere, then some over-the-top silly dance number, then worry for the village and serious female faces, then misunderstanding brings hilarity, then people are shot and buildings dynamited, horses scared and .. it's ALL OVER THE PLACE! You can NEVER know whether to take anything or anyone seriously or not - are the men in the bar scary tough guys or wimpy idiots?)..

[–] avortac4 (3478) 2 years ago

What's with something like an INVISIBLE MAN (the sword seems to be irrelevant even in the movie itself) that's defined by his invisibility and a weapon (why, though - doesn't he have a name, family, background, history, or something trivial, like.. oh, I don't know, story about HOW HE BECAME INVISIBLE, for example..??) being WASTED this way?

He wasted storywise and moviewise, it's SUCH a random thing to put to a story like this, it boggles the mind. Was the boss's nephew high when he staggered to the office, vomited some ideas and no one dared to tell him no? What the hell, singing bush and invisible man?

Think about it 'in-universe', though. He has this AMAZING, unique ability and power to be invisible, and he uses it to ... sit in a desert, waiting for someone to do some moronic chant and shoot guns uselessly (which are super loud, by the way, so I hope he's wearing earplugs at least), and then guide them to some stinky, hideous terrowist's hideout, which seems to just exist in the middle of a desert anyway, not in some hidden canyon or anything, so what's the point?

Why would it be so complicated anyway, why would the singing bush (however this came to be) agree to do this kind of work to help people find some villains? Where did the bush learn the songs? How does it vocal cords work? Why isn't El Guapo taking that bush to some kind of roadshow to make tons of money or at least sell it to the highest bidder or something? HE HAS MIRACLES in his hand and just leaves them in the desert so some goofballs can find his lair? WHAT?

Why aren't there tons of tourists anyway visiting and gawking at the singing bush, as it is unique and amazing? Why does it only sing and not converse with people? How can it be sentient enough to sing? How does it know to... ok, never mind, let's move on.

[–] avortac4 (3478) 2 years ago

The main problem with this movie is, it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It's too serious and dramatic, violent and depressing to be a comedy, it's too wacky and surreal to be taken seriously, it doesn't have many actually FUNNY bits, either, and yet the main three people are supposedly comedians.

Most of the jokes don't land or don't work, it's one of those movies where you WANT to laugh and you WANT to go along with the charisma of the big stars, but they aren't delivering; they aren't making you laugh, they aren't saying or doing anything funny enough. Sure, some stuff is 'kinda funny-ish', entertaining in its own, small way, but it always stops before it gets to be actually funny.

This movie tries to give each comedian a chance to shine and do their 'schtick', or whatever they are best at, but it never quite works. Chevy can be ridiculously funny, but not in this movie. Steve is amazing comedic genius - but only in other movies (not in more modern times, though). I have so much respect for Martin Short for his superb performances that had me laugh out loud a lot - just not in this particular movie.

This is the theme of this movie, everything falls flat, and then they suddenly take you to the Twilight Zone where NOTHING MAKES ANY SENSE and then bring back to the 'boring plot'.

This movie couldn't BE more uneven, if it wanted to. I want to laugh and be with the stars and emphatize with their plight, but everything is either too underplayed OR too over-the-top, you can never take anyone seriously, so you never feel worried for them, no matter how many times El Guapo says the word 'kill'.

Why does his henchman STOP killing Steve Martin after he fails? He should've kept shooting until he dies, not only until he is slightly wounded. Doesn't make sense, but nothing in this movie does.

[–] avortac4 (3478) 2 years ago

So, these strong, independent women, that won't even sacrifice themselves to give their hairy bush to a horny guy just to save their village (women are never altruistic when it comes to this stuff, you never see women give THIS type of charity to homeless or the nerds that never get any for some reason.. they could, they have the power to, but for some reason, it never occurs to them that they could make some nerds ridiculously happy just by giving up their greed for a few moments in time).

These strong, independent women can't do their OWN dirty work and save the village, they need MEN to save the village for them, and to be cannon fodder for them, because women are precious and valuable, and men are expendable and worthless. According to this movie and according to this planet..

Yet women that make millions just by opening their legs for a camera in modern times, complain about being oppressed by partriarchy, that literally lets men rather become homeless than helps them at all.

At least the movie portrays the hypocrisy of the world accurately.. if nothing else.

I mean.. SINGING HORSES?!?!? WHAT THE F WERE THEY THINKING?!

How are we supposed to take ANYTHING seriously, if you put singing horses in the movie? HOW?

Who wrote this mess? I don't want to know, it was a rhetorical question. Holy cow.. I could write a better movie about this same, exact premise, and put some ORIGINALITY to it (but not in the way of 'singing horses and bushes' and 'talking turtles'... holy cow, did they ever go to the wrong direction with this one.

This is one of those movies that no one thought much about .. 'yeah, let's cast these big stars, put this cliché plot, pretty women, typical villain with charisma and charm so audience will not know what to feel about him and just pepper ridiculous things all over the place, sounds like a winner!'

Well, it's a loser.

I WANT to like this movie, I love the cast, but holy cow did they produce an incoherent, tonally distorted mess.

[–] punkrockgirl (1153) a year ago

If you are this upset over a harmless comedy then I just feel sorry for you.

[–] BrandNewPoster (6339) 2 months ago

I thought it worked well and was entertaining and fun.

[–] RoboReCop (2707) 2 months ago

I disagree.

[–] StinkyPoopyPants (2700) 2 months ago

I think you take movies way too seriously.