My 3 Dads
A few years have passed since Michael, Peter and Jack (Steve Guttenberg, Tom Selleck, Ted Danson) turned their back on their bachelor days when Mary (Robin Weisman) and her mother Sylvia (Nancy Travis) entered their lives and whilst an unorthodox set up they all manage to work together to be parents to Mary. But as Mary has grown up into an inquisitive young girl, Sylvia realises that maybe it's time for her to have a more normal family set up especially as director Edward Hargreave (Christopher Cazenove) has asked her to marry him. With the prospect of Sylvia not only marrying but moving to England with Mary it causes unrest between Michael, Peter and Jack especially as Peter is harbouring his own feelings for Sylvia. But will he do something about it before Sylvia and Mary leave for ever?
I quite enjoyed "3 Men and a Baby" despite finding certain parts of the story as unwarranted padding and as such hoped I would enjoy the inevitable sequel "3 Men and a Little Lady" just as much. The amusing thing is I actually enjoyed "3 Men and a Little Lady" a lot more than the original as it built on the unusual situation of Mary, her mum and her 3 dads all living together. And what is more is that it crafts a storyline built around the progression of this unusual family dynamic rather than bringing in some stupid crime element as was the case in the first movie.
As such what we get in "3 Men and a Little Lady" after an obligatory montage of Mary growing up is a movie which is a journey. It starts off by serving up humour surrounding Mary asking her 3 dads some embarassing questions whilst at the same time we see that Sylvia is being courted by theatre director who wishes to whisk them back home to England. This then leads to the issues not only with it hitting Peter hard as he has fallen for Sylvia but also the fact that Edward wants to put Mary in a boarding school. And so we have the whole thing building to what is quite a predictable ending with a race against time for the guys and in particular Peter to prevent Sylvia making a mistake. The thing is that whilst there isn't anything which is stand out about this it all comes together to lead the audience through it.
What is very apparent is that these "3 men and a ..." movies are just as much about the central cast is about what goes on and the chemistry between Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson is still what makes the movie. They are so convincing as bachelor buddies who live together that you forget the whole set up of them living with Sylvia and Mary is all a bit ridiculous. On the subject of Sylvia it has to be said that Nancy Travis comes across a lot confident in this sequel which is a good thing as he character's nervousness in the first movie was a distraction.
What this all boils down to is that for me "3 Men and a Little Lady" is actually a tiny bit than "3 Men and a Little Baby". The whole storyline has a much more natural feel to it with the unusual family dynamic providing many of the issues. But it is the constant stream of comedy which makes it more fun and whilst some of the humour borders on the cringe worthy it still leaves you with a smile on your face.
