An avid Stooges fan I have been since I was a little kid. (I'm a rarity among Stooge lovers too. Shemp has always been my favorite) I remember watching this movie with great anticipation.
I was highly disappointed with the historical aspects. Now, of course I know it's a movie, but there was a great deal of misinformation presented to the viewer... The first being Shemp's phobias... Everyone knows he was a phobic wreck, but Shemp was not scared of train travel. They also have him looking perfectly comfortable in a car, and this is not true. Shemp was terrified of being in a car. This coming from an accident he had as a teenager while trying to get his license. They also get his age of death wrong. He was 60 not 59. Curly is also run through the mill. They portray him as childlike. This is not true at all. He was the one who cut his hair and didn't babble like a baby at getting it cut. There are other misinformations presented, but too numerous to mention.
What was good was Paul Ben-Victor's performance as Moe, and Michael Chiklis' portrayal of Curly (no matter how screwed up the script was). Evan Handler makes a serviceable Larry, while John Kassir is a poor Shemp. Paul Ben-Victor portrays Moe, much the way Moe was in real life. A quiet homebody. Chiklis has every mannerism of Curly down pat, and truly acts the part, but the role was written poorly. There are some bright and warm moments in this, but for stooge die-hards, some of what they present is hard to swallow.
** out of ****
I was highly disappointed with the historical aspects. Now, of course I know it's a movie, but there was a great deal of misinformation presented to the viewer... The first being Shemp's phobias... Everyone knows he was a phobic wreck, but Shemp was not scared of train travel. They also have him looking perfectly comfortable in a car, and this is not true. Shemp was terrified of being in a car. This coming from an accident he had as a teenager while trying to get his license. They also get his age of death wrong. He was 60 not 59. Curly is also run through the mill. They portray him as childlike. This is not true at all. He was the one who cut his hair and didn't babble like a baby at getting it cut. There are other misinformations presented, but too numerous to mention.
What was good was Paul Ben-Victor's performance as Moe, and Michael Chiklis' portrayal of Curly (no matter how screwed up the script was). Evan Handler makes a serviceable Larry, while John Kassir is a poor Shemp. Paul Ben-Victor portrays Moe, much the way Moe was in real life. A quiet homebody. Chiklis has every mannerism of Curly down pat, and truly acts the part, but the role was written poorly. There are some bright and warm moments in this, but for stooge die-hards, some of what they present is hard to swallow.
** out of ****
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