The Island Cinephile

Three Men and a Little Lady: An Unwanted Sequel

Directed by Emile Ardolino

“You are a selfish bastard!”

Sylvia

Three Men and a Little Lady comes after the successful release of its parent film – a mere three years prior – under the new direction of Emile Ardolino. With an addition to the family dynamic, Sylvia, the film is already in unfamiliar territory. The first film made the family concept work, but the second one seemed so unbelievable – especially as Mary got older. It seemed too far-fetched, and too absurd.  Most of the comedy from the first film was lessened in favor of a budding romance between Peter and Sylvia, minus the slapstick comedy brought by Miss Lomax.

Pertaining to Sylvia, with little improvement to her English accent from the first film, I found her character to be one-dimensional and boring. It appears that the writers were trying to convince the audience that Sylvia is a good mother, but it isn’t easy to sell when we already have her track record. She left the baby on the doorstop in the first film which counts as child abandonment. Then, we get a speech in the second film about how she always considers the best for Mary – which makes no sense. Michael’s character was simply there for another check. He was so underused I hardly remembered his presence. Jack remained an irresponsible parent and truly did not deserve to be a father. Peter continued as the level-headed, responsible figure that cared for Mary as a father should. Their adorable relationship was the saving grace of the film. Unlike the contrived love story that seemed like a stretch, or it may just be my disdain for Sylvia’s character – which is no fault of the actress that Sylvia was poorly written. The dialogue in this film was sub-par and as a result, so was the acting.

Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson reprised their roles in the film. Nancy Travis, who portrayed Sylvia, returned also. A welcomed actress was Fiona Shaw as Miss Lomax, who was utilized as comic relief. Christopher Cazenove acted as another one of Sylvia’s love interests and an antagonist. Evidently, not better than the first, Three Men and a Little Lady falls a far way down. It suffers on account of the absurdity of the plot, the direction of the story and Sylvia’s character. It would have done well-enough as a stand-alone film.

Watch trailer for Three Men and a Little Lady.

Available to Rent/Buy: https://amzn.to/3ZJB1oN

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