The 3 Stooges

Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk… Some joker in the deck, or two, thought it was time to try to bring back “The Three Stooges”. Sadly, the Farrelly Brothers timing in directing a new stooges story appears to as off as that of the actor/comedians they hired to portray the original dynamic trio. The original Moe, Larry and Curly were born out of an old vaudeville act that in 1934 led to the forming of The Three Stooges. This new group imitating Moe Howard (Chris Diamantopoulos), Larry Fine (Sean Hayes), and Jerry “Curly” Howard (Will Sasso) seem to have been forced together, failing to have the innocence and smoothness of flow that made the stooges famous.

At best, this film might be described as a tribute performance. At worst it tends to bore the true Stooge fan with several jokes that are clearly inflicted Farrelly style and not worthy of the three. Moe, Larry, and Curly’s humor was often simple minded and absurd. Their slapstick antics were based on their interactions with each other. They were not mean spirited, only picking on others when suitably provoked. They knew that even a fish out of water would die. By contrast the Farrelly Stooges go on to open a fish farm on a golf course that is pathetic as an attempt at humor.

The new crew is presented in three episodal acts beginning with a duffle bag full of babies (the wee three) tossed from a moving car onto the steps of an orphanage. Then, ten years later, when the now preteen gang of terror hopes to be adopted in what is clearly a ripoff of “Annie”, Moe goes but gets returned. Having laid the groundwork for what is to come, the next act (seemingly stolen from “The Blues Brothers”) has the stooges off to the big city to get the money needed to save the orphanage.

Final Act… Well, by now if you are still in the theater you are probably wondering “Why?”. Larry and Curly have parted ways from Moe. Moe has wound up on, of all things, the reality show “Jersey Shore”. Unfortunately, without Larry and Curly, Moe’s eye pokes and noggin knocks to the “Jersey Shore” kids come off as humorless cruel violence without justification or reason other than it looks good on reality TV. What a tragedy.

Speaking of tragedy, after the words “The End” hit the screen to relieve the audience, a last insult is inflicted by the Farrellys. The brothers come on screen to explain and demonstrate that the hammers and tools used in the movie were made of rubber and augmented by sound effects. They even properly demonstrate the eye poke, showing how the fast action move actually hits above the eyes. In this age of “JACKASS” when warnings are needed to “NOT try this at home” before a movie or show start, this last word seems to invalidate any purpose for this movie to have been made.

Alas… What is a Stooge? In the days of Vaudeville a Stooge was a plant in the audience who would be called up on stage and provide comic antics to augment the act on stage. In the case of this movie, a stooge might be the person who just handed over their cash to sit in the audience to witness a sub-par performance. Better to save your money and go off somewhere to do The Curly Shuffle…