Wrong Guys, The

The arrested-development movie craze may have reached some kind of extreme with ''The Wrong Guys,'' the story of five grown men who band together and re-live their Cub Scout days. Encouraged by Louie (Louie Anderson), whose mother was the group's original leader and whose house once boasted a display of different scouting knots mounted on the wall, the veterans of 1961's

The arrested-development movie craze may have reached some kind of extreme with ''The Wrong Guys,'' the story of five grown men who band together and re-live their Cub Scout days. Encouraged by Louie (Louie Anderson), whose mother was the group's original leader and whose house once boasted a display of different scouting knots mounted on the wall, the veterans of 1961's Den 7 reconvene for a wilderness adventure.

By the end of the film, they are back in uniform and being rescued by their mothers, several of whom grab their sons by the ears. But ''The Wrong Guys,'' which was directed by Danny Bilson and opened yesterday at the virtually deserted Embassy 4 and other theaters, at least deserves credit for being less stupid and more cheerful than it could have been.

The cast can be described as unmistakably professional, with Richard Belzer, Tim Thomerson and Franklin Ajaye among the campers, and the mood is chipper if not exactly inspired. There's even something likable about the scouting songs that are heard over the credits, or about the deranged killer who sings ''Tammy'' while cleaning his machine gun.

This killer, who is named Duke Earle, mistakes the reunited scouts for F.B.I. men and pursues them, thus giving the film much more plot than it really needs. Otherwise, it develops only a few amusing contrasts between the characters' Cub Scout past and their latter-day habits, like wearing silk pajamas and taking sleeping pills.