There's already a risk in creating a Three Stooges movie that is not a biopic, but one where three modern-day actors play three hugely iconic characters. In particular, characters whose popularity has not dimmed in the slightest since their heyday in the Great Depression.
A five year old today may wonder why people aren't talking in a Charlie Chaplin movie, or what the Marx Brothers are talking about in their films. However, if you show him a Three Stooges short, chances are he will be so busy laughing he won't wonder where the color went.
A child born in 2007 will no doubt find the Three Stooges as funny as one born in 1927. Therefore, if Hollywood screws this movie up, they can anticipate a sizable band of enraged fans carrying pitchforks and torches, and maybe a few hammers too.
Fortunately, the mob can rest their pitchforks and hammers, provided they don't land on another guy's head. If they see "The Three Stooges", they will probably laugh, as I did.
"The Three Stooges" had the potential to fail miserably, but did not thanks to the movie mainly sticking to what makes the Three Stooges funny: the slapstick. The actors who play the Stooges never miss a beat, and their timing on the physical gags could not be better timed.
It helps that at least two out of the three actors are relative unknowns. Chris Diamantopolous (as Moe) and Will Sasso (as Curly) are not household names, and are known best for their TV appearances (with Sasso having been a cast member on "Mad TV"). However, once the movie gets going, you begin to think that they have been possessed by the spirits of Moses and Jerry Horwitz, respectively.
Sean Hayes is the most recognizable of the three, which poses a slight liability. When he first appears on screen, you may find yourself saying, "Is Jack from 'Will & Grace' going to a Halloween party?" However, Hayes also goes for gold as Larry, and fortunately nails the role as much as he gets nailed in the eyes.
Getting hit in the head may look easy when you're watching it, but it's just like spoken word comedy: the timing better be right. In almost every case, the slaps to the face or hits with a hammer are funny, and the Farrelly Brothers never forget the element of surprise in many of the gags.
The plot is far from original, and unquestionably borrowed from other movies. The Three Stooges are raised in an orphanage run by nuns. Once it's revealed that the orphanage will be shut down because of unpaid back taxes, I almost expected Mother Superior (Jane Lynch) to inform the Stooges with a ruler in her hand. If Moe had told her, "It looks like you're up the creek", it would have been a great setup for slapstick, but one that has definitely been done before (as in "The Blues Brothers" (1980)).
Having no clue how to raise the $830,000 necessary to save the orphanage, the nitwits get suckered into a plot to kill a wealthy man by his greedy wife Lydia (Sofia Vergara) and her lover Mac (Craig Bierko). It doesn't matter that this subplot is hackneyed. The movie doesn't forget the fun in seeing how these three guys are going to royally screw up whatever plans the villains have. What matters is whether or not their bumbling and stumbling is funny.
These Three Stooges of the same name but different actors fumble like experts, which is where the movie triumphs. The film falters when it adds pop culture and trends to the mix. For every mention of new technology, there seems to be an awful pun one of the Stooges blurts out. Try not to groan when someone asks to tweet the three knuckleheads, and Curly replies, "Tweet us to dinner? Why soitenly!"
I also thought the parts where Moe joins the cast of "Jersey Shore" could have been taken out entirely. When Moe bonks The Situation in the head, or pulls out Jennifer "J-woww" Farley's hairs out of her nose, it's not as funny as when he does it to Larry or Curly. Plus, it is amazing how bad the cast of "Jersey Shore" acts even when playing themselves!
The reason "The Three Stooges" legacy continues to live on long after the deaths of the original seven (yes seven) actors is because the movies weren't dated. Sure, they were black and white, but slapstick never goes out of style. "Jersey Shore", on the other hand, will be yesterday's news at least three years from now.
When sticking with the injurious gags that kept us laughing for decades, "The Three Stooges" succeeds in being funny, and can fortunately not be considered the monumentally bad idea many die-hard fans predicted it would be. Plus, with an appropriate rating of PG, kids will like it too.
Do parents have to worry? My parents did when I was a kid, which is why, growing up, I was not allowed to watch the Three Stooges. However, the Farrelly Brothers have a disclaimer at the end that could have been seen as a cop-out, but which they also managed to make funny without being preachy. I agree with that part too: Do not try this at home.
A five year old today may wonder why people aren't talking in a Charlie Chaplin movie, or what the Marx Brothers are talking about in their films. However, if you show him a Three Stooges short, chances are he will be so busy laughing he won't wonder where the color went.
A child born in 2007 will no doubt find the Three Stooges as funny as one born in 1927. Therefore, if Hollywood screws this movie up, they can anticipate a sizable band of enraged fans carrying pitchforks and torches, and maybe a few hammers too.
Fortunately, the mob can rest their pitchforks and hammers, provided they don't land on another guy's head. If they see "The Three Stooges", they will probably laugh, as I did.
"The Three Stooges" had the potential to fail miserably, but did not thanks to the movie mainly sticking to what makes the Three Stooges funny: the slapstick. The actors who play the Stooges never miss a beat, and their timing on the physical gags could not be better timed.
It helps that at least two out of the three actors are relative unknowns. Chris Diamantopolous (as Moe) and Will Sasso (as Curly) are not household names, and are known best for their TV appearances (with Sasso having been a cast member on "Mad TV"). However, once the movie gets going, you begin to think that they have been possessed by the spirits of Moses and Jerry Horwitz, respectively.
Sean Hayes is the most recognizable of the three, which poses a slight liability. When he first appears on screen, you may find yourself saying, "Is Jack from 'Will & Grace' going to a Halloween party?" However, Hayes also goes for gold as Larry, and fortunately nails the role as much as he gets nailed in the eyes.
Getting hit in the head may look easy when you're watching it, but it's just like spoken word comedy: the timing better be right. In almost every case, the slaps to the face or hits with a hammer are funny, and the Farrelly Brothers never forget the element of surprise in many of the gags.
The plot is far from original, and unquestionably borrowed from other movies. The Three Stooges are raised in an orphanage run by nuns. Once it's revealed that the orphanage will be shut down because of unpaid back taxes, I almost expected Mother Superior (Jane Lynch) to inform the Stooges with a ruler in her hand. If Moe had told her, "It looks like you're up the creek", it would have been a great setup for slapstick, but one that has definitely been done before (as in "The Blues Brothers" (1980)).
Having no clue how to raise the $830,000 necessary to save the orphanage, the nitwits get suckered into a plot to kill a wealthy man by his greedy wife Lydia (Sofia Vergara) and her lover Mac (Craig Bierko). It doesn't matter that this subplot is hackneyed. The movie doesn't forget the fun in seeing how these three guys are going to royally screw up whatever plans the villains have. What matters is whether or not their bumbling and stumbling is funny.
These Three Stooges of the same name but different actors fumble like experts, which is where the movie triumphs. The film falters when it adds pop culture and trends to the mix. For every mention of new technology, there seems to be an awful pun one of the Stooges blurts out. Try not to groan when someone asks to tweet the three knuckleheads, and Curly replies, "Tweet us to dinner? Why soitenly!"
I also thought the parts where Moe joins the cast of "Jersey Shore" could have been taken out entirely. When Moe bonks The Situation in the head, or pulls out Jennifer "J-woww" Farley's hairs out of her nose, it's not as funny as when he does it to Larry or Curly. Plus, it is amazing how bad the cast of "Jersey Shore" acts even when playing themselves!
The reason "The Three Stooges" legacy continues to live on long after the deaths of the original seven (yes seven) actors is because the movies weren't dated. Sure, they were black and white, but slapstick never goes out of style. "Jersey Shore", on the other hand, will be yesterday's news at least three years from now.
When sticking with the injurious gags that kept us laughing for decades, "The Three Stooges" succeeds in being funny, and can fortunately not be considered the monumentally bad idea many die-hard fans predicted it would be. Plus, with an appropriate rating of PG, kids will like it too.
Do parents have to worry? My parents did when I was a kid, which is why, growing up, I was not allowed to watch the Three Stooges. However, the Farrelly Brothers have a disclaimer at the end that could have been seen as a cop-out, but which they also managed to make funny without being preachy. I agree with that part too: Do not try this at home.