998. ¡Three Amigos! (1986)

Starring: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short

Director: John Landis

Running Time: 104 mins

¡Three Amigos! is an American film about a trio of famous actors from the silent era who are unknowingly recruited to defend a small Mexican village from a vicious group of bandits who they think are all part of their own act.

This is a good bit of silly fun, with generic crazy slapstick and a preposterous but enjoyable concept that makes this an easy watch. However, a high level of comedy is never maintained throughout, whilst some pacing issues make this occasionally a lot more boring to watch than it should be.

On the one hand, this is a very easy-going, light-hearted comedy with a fun premise. The fact that these actors remain unaware that they are being thrown into the real world of bandits for such a long time makes for some good laughs, as do their eccentric personalities within this serious situation.

Throughout, there are fantastically funny scenes where we see the actors’ incapability to get round to understanding the situation that they are in, and the hilarious responses of the befuddled Mexicans, and whilst those do provide a lot of laughs from time to time, it’s not consistent enough to make this a riotously funny film.

The concept wears thin to some degree, and by the end, it almost loses all relevance to what’s going on, which is ultimately an action comedy, but it’s the fact that in some of the quieter scenes, there just aren’t the big laughs that some of the bigger set pieces seem to achieve.

In a way, this really does evoke the feel of a western, but not in a good way. There are many silent parts throughout, and the pacing is very slow and episodic, much like some of the classic westerns that don’t necessarily make riveting watching through their slow development.

Overall, this gets a 6.8, because despite being a good bit of fun with laughs here and there, it’s not consistently funny enough nor engaging enough to be a properly good film.