For a long time, I have been fascinated by the directorial choice of ending a film on a freezeframe. My ideal movie would end on a still shot of two people high-fiving, no matter what the content of the rest of the film. I mean, Apocalypse Now is great, but imagine if it ended with Willard and Lance high-fiving each other as they sail away from Kurtz's encampment, before the image freezes and fades to black? More like Apocalypse WOW.
Happily, this feature can most often be found in one of my favourite genres - cheesy 80s and 90s American comedies. So in what I hope will become a recurring feature, we will start with one of my favourite examples, from Three Men and a Little Lady, the oft unappreciated sequel to the surprisingly Leonard Nimoy-directed Three Men and a Baby.
Here we see the moment Ted Danson, shocked to be catching a bouquet thrown by the eponymous 'Little Lady' at his friend Tom Selleck's wedding. He looks straight into camera, in a cinematic first for the Three Men... films, thus breaking the fourth wall and placing us in unexpectedly metafictional territory. At this very moment, the action freezes and the credits roll, leaving the audience reeling from this last-minute penetration of the boundary they once felt safe behind. Even Petunia Dursley, to the right of the frame, cannot believe what has happened, clutching a tissue to her face in shock.
A masterpiece.
If you want to see the full scene, you can find it here.
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