2673. Sextuplets (2019)

Starring: Marlon Wayans, Bresha Webb, Molly Shannon

Director: Michael Tiddes

Running Time: 99 mins

Sextuplets is an American film about a man who, on the verge of having a baby with his wife, discovers that he is one of six siblings, so he sets out to find them and get to know his family history a little better.

This is the sort of film where, if you’re expecting proper, surprising or even intelligent comedy, then you’ll only ever be met with disappointment. Similar to the likes of Big Momma’s House, Norbit, The Nutty Professor and more, Sextuplets sees one actor – Marlon Wayans – taking on multiple roles, each one more stupid than the last.

And that’s the main thing about Sextuplets, that it’s really quite a dumb movie. Its slapstick humour and stupid premise notwithstanding, there really isn’t anything about the movie that’s in any way surprising or properly entertaining. It’s a fairly harmless watch, and is never as shrill or annoying as the likes of Big Momma’s House – or even worse, Adam Sandler’s Jack And Jill – but there’s no moment in this film that actually sticks out in my memory, proving a disappointingly bland and simply dumb watch.

Of course, a good comedy doesn’t have to be full of cerebral wit and irony to be funny, and a good bit of slapstick is fairly good fun to watch from time to time. However, the problem with Sextuplets is that it doesn’t even try to be that funny, simply sitting with the premise that you’re watching Marlon Wayans playing six siblings at the same time, and assuming that that’s enough of a joke to last the whole movie.

Unsurprisingly, that’s not the case, and as much energy as Wayans puts into his various roles here, there just isn’t anything else of note about the movie. And while there’s a degree of fun in waiting to see what ridiculous incarnation of a sibling Wayans will appear as next, once you’ve met them all, there’s absolutely nothing else to look for, leaving Sextuplets as a bit of a damp squib as it doesn’t even try to make you laugh.

So, in short, this movie just isn’t that funny. However, as disappointing and dull as it is to see it barely even try to get a few chuckles out of you, the one benefit of that is that the film is fairly harmless and neutral. Unlike the often unnecessarily provocative and vulgar humour that you see in the likes of Big Momma’s House, Sextuplets’ lack of comedy means it’s actually a far more pleasant watch.

It may not offer anything of real value over the course of an hour and a half, but at least it doesn’t grate on the ears with shrill, moronic characters or vulgar comedy, meaning that you can sit back and turn your brain off – or even fall asleep.

Overall, then, there’s not much to write home about with Sextuplets. Whilst it’s just about a passable watch, its lack of actual humour in place of just watching Marlon Wayans in a variety of fat suits and wigs is disappointing to say the least, and although it proves to be fairly harmless in the end, this is above all a very, very dumb movie, and not worth your time, which is why I’m giving it a 5.8.