The Three Stooges (2012) starring Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos, Jane Lynch, Sofía Vergara Movie Review

The Three Stooges (2012)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulos in

Wrong Time and Place

As babies Larry, Curly and Moe (Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulos) were left on the steps of an orphanage where despite the attempts of the nuns to ship them out they have remained till they are grown ups. But the orphanage gets bad news as unless they can raise up 830,000 bucks the place will close. Never fear as Larry, Curly and Moe are going to head out in to the big wide world to raise the money and save the day. The question is who is going to save them as they get involved with Lydia (Sofía Vergara) and a murder plot.

The idea of making a modern "Three Stooges" movie is as ridiculous as someone trying to make a modern "Laurel & Hardy" movie. Not only is it incredibly hard to get actors who can deliver the old fashioned slapstick style comedy but a bigger question is whether that old sort of slapstick still works in today's world especially for a modern audience. As such when "The Three Stooges" was first announced I had that sinking feeling that this would never work and after it came to fruition under the guidance of the Farrelly brothers it is clear that I was right.

Sofía Vergara in The Three Stooges (2012)

The issue is that the sort of slapstick which was the bread and butter of the Three Stooges back in their heyday does not work now in the same way, older audiences might enjoy it but younger audiences need something extra. The Farrelly's try to add that extra with not only scenes involving "The Jersey Shore" but a more typical Farrelly scene involving Larry, Curly and Moe having a pee-shooter fight in a maternity ward and in this case I do mean pee-shooter. It just doesn't feel right on so many levels with the majority of the gags failing and none ending up memorable even one featuring a dolphin, a peanut and a lion.

Then there is the casting and two out of three ain't bad as Sean Hayes is good as Larry and Will Sasso delivers the most effective performance as Curly with not only the mannerisms and noises but having the best comic timing of the trio. But every single performance in "The Three Stooges" feels like the actors are going through the motions, knowing full well that the movie isn't really coming together like originally hoped.

What this all boils down to is that "The Three Stooges" was a mistake from concept to final product as the slapstick humour of Larry, Curly and Moe belongs in the past whilst having them try and do more contemporary comedy is simply wrong. The only way that a modern "The Three Stooges" movie could work is if it was a biopic such as the 20o0 made for TV biopic which is also called "The Three Stooges".


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