Better than its American remake...
I guess a clueless guy being suddenly saddled with the care of a wailing infant is always pretty funny. Even John Wayne was cast in a babysitting role in 3 Godfathers, a 1948 western drama which had its moments of funny. In 1985, the French comedy THREE MEN AND A CRADLE (3 HOMMES ET UN COUFFIN) came out and was so successful that it inspired the 1987 American adaptation Three Men and a Baby, which then also amassed buckets of duckets. However, I do think that THREE MEN AND A CRADLE is more layered and, therefore, more truthfully emotional than THREE MEN AND A BABY.

I just love watching Frenchies being anxious and frantic, as opposed to, say, being smug and obnoxious. It lowers my blood pressure. THREE MEN AND A CRADLE tells of what happens when a baby girl is abandoned on the doorstep of a posh apartment shared by three Parisian bachelors enjoying the good life. There's a subplot revolving around dope smuggling, but mostly the film is about how these three men transform - reluctantly, at first - from swinging womanizers into doting father figures.

If you're into scatological humor, then you're in luck. If you're into sentimental stuff, then you're also in luck, although this French version isn't as mawkish or precious as its American counterpart. By the way, don't get me wrong, I dig THREE MEN AND A BABY, which is darn enjoyable but does play for easy laughs more so than this one. THREE MEN AND A CRADLE, for example, goes more into exploring the state of despondency the guys go thru, with the baby's departure. Also, more attention is paid to the baby's mother, who we learn is a struggling model, barely able to make ends meet. You can see why she has trouble tending to her baby and how then this impacts the film's resolution.

Still, both film versions offer up men who work themselves into a dither, scampering to impromptu learn to care for a baby. THREE MEN AND A CRADLE is chock-full of cute baby moments, but, of course - and the same goes for its remake - the pound for pound best moment is the three "dads" lullabying the baby to sleep. In this one, the tune happens to be "Au Clair de la Lune."

The three actors playing the roommates are excellent, their timing locked in. Their rapid, back-and-forth dialogue, and especially their arguments, are pretty wonderful to watch. But, more than anyone else on screen, Roland Giraud (Pierre) shines as the crabby point-of-view character. Pierre the architect is the most responsible of the three and manages to keep the movie grounded enough, in spite of the broad antics, that you don't instantly dismiss this movie as madcap fluff. Not that child abandonment is madcap fluff...

I also like that these three confirmed bachelors aren't classically handsome studs. They look like average Joes with normal physiques, and they don't mind going shirtless in several scenes. In fact, the artist guy is fairly slovenly looking, which in a way makes him an even more endearing character. But not as endearing as the baby, who is an awesomely cutesy-ootsy so-and-so.

I just found out that there's a sequel to THREE MEN AND A CRADLE, titled 18 Ans Apres (Original French Version - No Subtitles) (18 YEARS LATER), which came out in 2003 and reunited the cast and director. It took me about thirty seconds, after finding out, to order that puppy.

This cannot happen to me, are you sure?
Colin Serreau made a tender film, which has been become through the years a referential film, with unsuspected well comments around the world. A trio of bachelors receive a six month old roommate; and what initially supposes a bundle of unexpected joy will transform a bundle of trouble.

A movie that talks us about one of the multiple faces of the meaning of love

This film represented to France in 1985 as Best Foreign film

Bringing Up Baby
Shrewd advice: Always seek out the original when America decides to remake a foreign film in its own image. The Hollywood moneymaker "Three Men and a Baby" and its unmentionable sequel are, well, laughable alongside the superior French comedy "Three Men and a Cradle" now out on DVD. Men's bonding with children isn't new to cinema ("Kramer versus Kramer"), but treating child abandonment as farce was when this film opened in 1985. It became a big European hit, won France's best film Cesar Award, and got nominated for a Hollywood Oscar. Absolutely delightful describes it best.

Three bachelors in an upscale apartment continue to pursue women and their jobs, deflecting police snoopers and drug dealers, all the while caring for a baby girl left on their doorstep. That's the set-up, which the American remake never got beyond. The movie is really about how gender switching, including diaper-changing and bottle feeding, permits the inner man to express his true self. All of the actors have a sweet sense of ensemble, yet each man bonds with the baby in his own way. If you have to ask how this perfectly charming comedy will end, you have never been a parent.

brilliant
this is the original film and much less schmaltzy and cute than the truly awful American remake (3 men and a baby). Don't watch the bad remake, watch this. 3 batchelors, keen on women and wine are left with a baby. Yes the men grow to love Marie, but only in time, and only really when they release a package of drugs is the real parcel to be collected. love is not instant (as in the US remake). subtle too. I saw this subtitled years ago in a cinema in NZ and have loved it since.

Actually better than what you might expect
Three young independent bachelors live together in Paris. One day, a woman, known to all three men, leaves a baby on their doorstep. She wants them to care for it while she goes to America. It's a total disaster for them at first, as expected, and just as predictably they soon grow fond of the little tike, learn responsibility, and become less selfish. When the mother returns and they have to give the baby up, they are despondent and their lives suddenly have a big hole in it. Sounds like it should be a big mess, but actually it's very well done and, best of all, believable. [This is the French version which inspired the American remake two years later.]