In One Ear, Out The Other: One of the posters had the main character shining a flashlight through the ears of his entire family.Hand Cannon: One of the corrupt air force officers selling weapons on the black market demonstrates a pistol that is essentially a handheld Grenade Launcher.Unsurprisingly (considering who Stanley and his family are, see the title of the film) he thinks he did it. Correlation/Causation Gag: Stanley takes off his shoe and uses the heel to smash a wasp on the hood of his car, just as a bomb inside the vehicle goes off and blows the body of the car to scrap (oddly leaving both the entire front of the car and Stanley completely untouched).The Cameo: In true John Landis fashion, many smaller roles and bit parts are filled by acclaimed film directors, including Atom Egoyan, Norman Jewison, Robert Wise, David Cronenberg, and Costa-Gavras.It does make him drive off the road though. Or at least that's what he thinks, since he's a complete Cloudcuckoolander. Bee-Bee Gun: Stanley Stupid is at one point assaulted by the dreaded Drive Bee, sent by his nemesis Mr.However, while they attempt to thwart the 'sinister plot', they inadvertently uncover a very real sinister plot involving terrorists and contraband weaponry. The protagonists invent a bizarre conspiracy theory from everyday details, involving a villain who plans to steal all the mail and garbage from America. Actor IS the Title Character: Tom Arnold is STUPID.The film adaptation features examples of the following tropes: Too Dumb to Live: Subverted by The Stupids Die, where they only thought to have died - but it was only the lights going out!.

Stupid wears a cat on her head when she goes out with the family in one of the books.

The Ditz: Much of the humor of the books is indeed a result of the mental acuity of the Stupids - they are so inept they are unable to do even the simplest of tasks (e.g., falling asleep, breathing) without being reminded how to do so.

The books features examples of the following tropes: The books were made into a film adaptation in 1996 directed by John Landis, starring Tom Arnold as the family's patriarch, Stanley Stupid. It first debuted in 1977 with The Stupids Step out and ended with The Stupids Take Off in 1989, with four books in total. It features an unusual family that is Exactly What It Says on the Tin in that they are stupid and get easily mixed up when performing tasks, to the point that the dog and cat are smarter than them. The Stupids are the title characters of a series of books written by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall.

Harry allard and james marshall