Three Fugitives

Directed by Francis Veber, Three Fugitives follows Nick Nolte’s recently-paroled Daniel Lucas as he’s unwittingly dragged into a bank robbery by an incompetent criminal (Martin Short’s Ned Perry) – with the movie subsequently detailing the mismatched pair’s efforts at escaping from both cops and nefarious figures. Filmmaker Veber, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a hit-and-miss yet mostly rewarding comedy that benefits substantially from the top-notch work of its various performers, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the picture receives plenty of mileage out of the palpable chemistry between Nolte and Short’s respective figures – with the irresistibly comedic bent of their scenes together going a long way towards elevating the proceedings through its less-than-captivating stretches. It’s clear, too, that Three Fugitives‘ decidedly erratic narrative ultimately fares a lot better than one might’ve initially anticipated, with the movie’s eventual emphasis on the protagonists’ sentimental exploits hardly as jarring as it could’ve been – which, when coupled with a satisfying closing stretch, cements the film’s place as an entertaining (albeit forgettable) endeavor that contains its fair share of legitimate belly laughs.

*** out of ****