Main Cast: Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson, Nancy Travis, Robin Weisman
Release Year: 1990
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Emile Ardolino directed this treacly sequel to Three Men and a Baby. The middle-aged trio of doting fathers -- Peter the architect (Tom Selleck), Michael the cartoonist (Steve Guttenberg) and Jack the actor (Ted Danson) -- have returned, sublimating their swinging bachelor instincts in order to raise 5-year-old Mary (Robin Weisman). The child of Jack and Sylvia (Nancy Travis), Mary was abandoned by Sylvia in the foyer of the boys' apartment house in the first film. In five years, Mary has grown from a diaper-filling infant to a cute kid who insists that the guys sing rap songs to her before she goes to bed. Sylvia now also lives with the bachelors as she pursues a promising Broadway career. Peter, Michael, and Jack dote on the moppet and parenthood has rarely seemed more idyllic. But Sylvia once again disrupts their placid existence. Accepting the marriage proposal of British director and surly cad Edward (Christopher Cazenove), she announces that she and Mary are going to move to England, leaving the boys high and dry. When it turns out that Edward is secretly planning to ship Mary away to a boarding school after the marriage, the three guys race frantically to disrupt Sylvia's wedding. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Christopher Cazenove - Edward; Sheila Hancock - Vera; Fiona Shaw - Miss Lomax; Jonathan Lynn - Vicar Hewitt; Lynne Marta - Morgan School Teacher; Everett Wong - 1st Boy; Edwina Moore - Dr. Robinson; Rosalind Allen - Pretty Girl; Jonathan Boswall - Barrow, Butler; Edith Fields - Mrs. Heard; Patricia Gaul - Mrs. Walker; Neil Hunt - Wilfred Blair; Melissa Hurley - Dancing Girl at Party; Lucia Neal - Party Lady; Bryan Pringle - Old Englishman; Darcy Pulliam - Waitress; Ian Redford - English Farmer; Charles David Richards - Stagehand; Leona Shaw; Steven L. Vaughn - Usher; Sidney Walsh - Laurie; Ilene Starger; Mary Selway
Credit
David M. Haber - Art Director, Robert W. Cort - Co-producer, Ted Field - Co-producer, Neil Machlis - Co-producer, Louise Frogley - Costume Designer, Emile Ardolino - Director, Michael A. Stevenson - Editor, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Marty Paich - Musical Direction/Supervision, John Caglione, Jr. - Makeup, Doug Drexler - Makeup, Jonathan Filley - Production Designer, Stuart Wurtzel - Production Designer, Paul Deason - Production Designer, Adam Greenberg - Cinematographer, Vincent Winter - Production Manager, Jean-Francois Lepetit - Producer, Antoinette Gordon - Set Designer, Richard Ratliff - Special Effects, Tim Kazurinsky - Screenwriter, Denise de Clue - Screenwriter, Joseph Loeb III - Screenwriter, Josann McGibbon - Screenwriter, Sara Parriott - Screenwriter, Charlie Peters - Screenwriter, Matthew Weisman - Screenwriter, Kevin Falls - Screenwriter
The film carries on with the story of the three men - Jack, Michael and Peter. They are living with Mary who is now five, and her mother Sylvia. The group is split up when Sylvia announces that she is getting married to an Englishman, and that she and her future husband intend to move to England after the wedding, taking Mary with them. Peter and Michael (joined later by Jack) travel over to England for the wedding where Peter realizes that Sylvia's fiancé, Edward, intends to package Mary off to a boarding school (Pileforth Academy) as he has no real interest in her. Edward denies everything and Sylvia refuses to believe Peter as she knows he has disliked Edward from the beginning.
During this time the attraction between Peter and Sylvia is growing, something he refuses to acknowledge to her because he doesn't know how to deal with these feelings and she is determined to get married and forge a new life for herself and Mary with Edward. Peter eventually breaks into Pileforth in an attempt to get some proof of Edward's scheme to send Mary there. He is discovered by the headmistress, Miss Elspeth Lomax, who was told by Edward that Peter is in love with her. She takes off her coat in front of him wearing a nightgown thinking it will turn him on. Eventually Peter comes clean and he and Miss Lomax head off to stop the wedding. In the meantime, in an attempt to cause a delay, Michael has kidnapped the vicar and Jack disguises himself as an elderly replacement vicar.
Peter and Miss Lomax arrive at the church after numerous delays and he confronts Sylvia with the truth, Miss Lomax herself confirming that Edward has been lying. Sylvia confronts Edward and he admits the truth but it is too late - they are already married. Or so it would seem.... until Jack reveals himself to everyone. Not only has Jack finally proved his acting skills and fooled his friends, but the marriage is null and void. Sylvia declares her intention to go home and makes to leave until Peter stops her and declares his love, the two marry with Mary as their bridesmaid.
Production
Filmed on location in New York and England, the scenes in England were primarily shot in Banbury, Oxfordshire. The school which Mary was to attend (Pileforth Academy) was shot at two locations. The external shot of the school is the Jesuit boarding school Stonyhurst College in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire. The internal scenes of the school were shot at the (former) Benedictine boarding school Douai Abbey in Berkshire.
Soundtrack
One of the most widely recognised tracks from the film is Waiting For a Star to Fall by Boy Meets Girl, which featured during the final wedding scene and end credits.
