Peter Mitchell (Three Men And A Baby)

''Three Men and a Baby'' is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Leonard Nimoy. It stars Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson as three bachelors as they attempt to adapt their lives to de facto fatherhood with the arrival of the love child of one of the men. The script was based on the 1985 French film ''Three Men and a Cradle''.

The film was the biggest American box-office hit of 1987, surpassing ''Fatal Attraction'' and eventually grossing $167 million in the United States and Canada and $240 million worldwide. The film won the 1988 People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Motion Picture. A sequel, ''Three Men and a Little Lady'' (1990), also featured Selleck, Guttenberg and Danson. A remake was announced in 2020 for Disney+ with Zac Efron among the cast, though the film has yet to be made.

Plot

Architect Peter Mitchell, cartoonist Michael Kellam, and actor Jack Holden are happy bachelors in their shared New York apartment, with frequent parties and flings. The movie begins with Peter celebrating his birthday. The next day, a baby named Mary arrives on the trio's doorstep with a note revealing she is the result of Jack's tryst with an actress named Sylvia during a Stratford Festival Shakespearean production a year prior.

Jack is in Turkey shooting a B movie, and makes arrangements with a director friend to have a package delivered to the apartment. Jack asks his roommates to keep the delivery a secret per his friend's wishes; when Mary arrives, they believe she is the "package".

Peter and Michael are totally befuddled on how to care for Mary, and Peter leaves to buy supplies. Their landlady Mrs. Hathaway delivers a small box – the actual "package" of heroin – which Michael tosses aside. They learn to care for Mary, including diaper changes, baths, and feedings. Peter tries to get help from his on/off girlfriend, Rebecca, but she showed no interest. Taking care of her has even interfered in their daily work schedule.

Four days later, two drug dealers arrive at the apartment for the package. Peter and Michael mistakenly give them Mary, along with a can of powdered milk the dealers believe is the heroin. Peter discovers the actual package; realizing the mix-up, he runs downstairs but trips, spilling the package's contents. He gathers up the drugs and confronts the men outside, causing a scuffle. A police officer on horseback intervenes; Peter rescues Mary, but the dealers flee with the can of powdered milk. The officer detains Peter and Michael at the apartment until Sgt. Melkowitz, a narcotics officer, arrives to question them. Jack calls from Turkey, but Peter and Michael are unable to talk openly as they are being recorded. They successfully hide the drugs, learning that Jack's friend Paul Milner is a drug dealer. A suspicious Melkowitz puts them under surveillance.

Mrs. Hathaway babysits Mary while Peter and Michael go to work. Returning home, they find Mrs. Hathaway bound and gagged and the apartment ransacked by the dealers, but Mary safe; a note threatens, "Next time we'll take the baby". Peter and Michael continue to care for Mary, adjusting to "fatherhood" and growing attached.

Peter incapacitates an intruder late at night, who turns out to be Jack, returning early after his movie role was cut. Jack assures Peter and Michael he knew nothing about the heroin or Milners dealings. He initially denies his connection to Mary, but Sylvia's note convinces him he is Mary's father. Peter and Michael, now competent caregivers, are exhausted and frustrated from their around the clock babysitting, and pass all duties to a bewildered Jack, refusing to help him. Jack tries to get help from his mother, but she refuses him. After letting Jack suffer for a while, Michael and Peter help him, and together the three bachelors share babysitting duties. They even installed a telephone in their bathroom shower after failing to contact Jack the first time.

Later they receive a news clipping in the mail – Milner has been attacked by the drug dealers and hospitalized – with another threat: "Don't let this happen to you!" Peter, Michael, and Jack formulate a plan to trap the dealers, arranging a meeting. Jack, disguised as a pregnant woman, leaves the building with Mary, while Peter and Michael leave in a cab, followed by undercover officers, but manage to lose them in another cab driven by Jack. Peter meets with the dealers at the top floor of a construction site while Jack is manning the power breakers to the elevators and watching Mary. Michael, hidden in the vents, records Peter's conversation with the dealers but loses his balance and falls into the room, and a chase ensues. They manage to trap the dealers in an elevator as the police arrive. With the recording, they prove their innocence to Melkowitz, and the dealers are arrested.

Peter, Michael, and Jack fully embrace their role as Mary's guardians, until Sylvia arrives to take Mary with her to London. After she leaves with Mary, the three realize how desperately they miss the baby. Racing to the airport, they just miss Sylvia's plane for London. Defeated, they return home to find Sylvia and Mary at their doorstep. Sylvia tearfully says she doesn't want to give up acting but must if she has to raise Mary alone. They invite her and Mary to move in; she accepts, and the four live happily with the baby. They even added a new mural to their front entrance with the four pushing a stroller with Mary in it.

Cast

Production

Mary was played by twins Lisa and Michelle Blair.

Urban legend

The figure is actually a cardboard cutout "standee" of Jack, wearing a tuxedo and top hat, that was left on the set. It was created as part of the storyline, in which he, an actor, appears in a dog food commercial, but this portion was cut from the final version of the film. The standee does show up later in the film, when Jack stands next to it as Sylvia comes to reclaim Mary. Snopes.com contends that the one in the first scene looks smaller than it does in the later scene because of the distance and angle of the shot, and because the curtains obscure its outstretched arms. As for the contention that a boy died in the house, all the indoor scenes were shot on a Toronto sound stage, and no kind of residential dwellings were used for interior filming.

Reception

Critical response

The critical response to ''Three Men and a Baby'' was generally positive. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on reviews from 70 critics, and an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's consensus reads: "Like the French farce it's based on, ''Three Men and a Baby'' is too self-satisfied with scatalogical humor to qualify as a bundle of joy, but the role of makeshift daddy brings out the best in Tom Selleck". Metacritic gave the film a score of 61 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', despite noting several aspects he saw as flaws, praised the film, remarking: "Because of Selleck and his co-stars... the movie becomes a heartwarming entertainment". He gave it 3 (out of four) stars. Janet Maslin of ''The New York Times'' wrote "this story is about four babies, not just one" and "the film bubbles along in a funny if predictable way, with a lot more gags than the earlier film managed".

Box office

The film opened in theaters on Wednesday, November 25, 1987. It grossed $168 million in the United States and Canada and $72 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $240 million. It was notable for the Walt Disney Studios since it was the first production from the studio to gross over $100 million domestically in its initial run and its highest-grossing film at the time until surpassed in 1990 by ''Pretty Woman''.

Legacy

The film was followed by a 1990 sequel titled ''Three Men and a Little Lady'' which also featured Selleck, Guttenberg, and Danson. Guttenberg spoke about the two films in 2023, saying he felt the first was the stronger of the two films.

In 2010, Selleck said Disney had spoken to him about a potential third film tentatively titled ''Three Men and a Bride''. Selleck later mentioned in 2013 that the third film "seemed to be real, and then it disappeared." while a Disney spokesman said that a new ''Three Men and a Baby'' entry was in development as of 2013.

A remake was announced in 2020 for the Disney+ streaming service with Zac Efron set to be in the cast. Maurice "Mo" Marable was chosen to direct the reboot in January 2021. Marable stated than when "you go back and you watch the original ''Three Men and a Baby'' you go, 'times have changed. Marable continued that "guys are not as stupid as they were back in the day. The cast will be very diverse, that's the only way I would do it. As of 2023, Marable was still set to direct the remake as his first feature film.

When asked about a reboot of the series, Guttenberg responded that he was not excited about it, saying that the audiences would prefer a sequel as they wanted to be reminded of a "better time. When you see a sequel, it reminds you what happened before. And you can come back to that."

Adaptations

The television show ''Baby Daddy'', an American sitcom that premiered in 2012 on ABC Family, has been compared to the film.

See also

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References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Men And A Baby
1980s American films
1980s English-language films
1987 comedy films
1987 films
American comedy films
American remakes of French films
Films about babies
Films about drugs
Films about parenting
Films directed by Leonard Nimoy
Films set in New York City
Films set in Turkey
Films scored by Marvin Hamlisch
Films shot in Toronto
Interscope Communications films
Touchstone Pictures films
Films with screenplays by James Orr (filmmaker)
Three Men and a Baby (franchise)
English-language comedy films