Review of The Three Stooges (2012) by Wyrdmaven — 14 Apr 2012

As a lifelong Stooges fan I can say The Three Stooges is a proper, if a bit wrong-headed, homage to Moe, Larry and Curly. There were many, many moments in the film in which I had to sort of rub my eyes a bit as I had to tell myself, "These aren't the originals." I think the performances go beyond impersonation. Especially Moe and Larry. Do you belief in possession...or in-habitation? Well if you know the Stooges and see The Three Stooges, there are moments when the performances will leave you with a gaping awe-provoked maw.

And then there are the other moments when you will be slack-jawed at how terrible some of the other moments are. While I have seen folks say that "you can't outdo the originals" and such like that...it isn't the moments when the Three are on screen that are the real problem. It's everything else. Yes, you get the fan service. You get the bad puns. You get Larry getting something totally wrong, or playing with something he shouldn't. You get Moe being Moe. You get Curly being both the innocent and the Robin Goodfellow. It's all there, and you should expect that. There's some modern displacement in there as well and yes, they should know what a smart-phone is, but they have been raised in an Orphanage, so give that stuff a break. Heh..."Hey, Jumbotron, have you seen..." oh that had my theater rolling.

But you get everything else that has to plague a movie like this. I recalled Jim Carrey's Grinch movie while watching what could only be called "filler". That cinematic suppuration had to include sort of back story to the Grinch, he had to have some sort of motivation to being the Grinch...as if just being the Grinch isn't good enough...well, the Farrelly bros know the Stooges are just the Stooges, there's no need for us to analyze them, to try and explore their dynamic. And that is where the movie stumbles, steps on the hoe in the yard, gets the stick in the mush, falls over into the swimming pool and gets the rich patron of the social party wet. But the Grinch was a movie...they had to have some filler. But you didn't have to do that with the Stooges.

I, and everyone in my theater, would have been pleased to have actually seen three Stooges shorts, instead of having a continuous movie broken up into three episodes. Because trying to layer a narrative over a movie about the Stooges...while I can understand why they did it...and it stinks of studio pressure from Puddinheads wearing suits...it just doesn't work. And herein we see the inherent problem with making a Three Stooges movie. You would have been better off making a few Shorts to show in front of other movies (or a teevee series) than trying to make a Three Stooges movie. Yes, Sofia Vergera hams it up, so there's two other good things about the film. But most everything else doesn't work. Sorry. They need to make a truncated edition where everything else is deleted. No, don't break out into song just because you can sing and need an excuse for Curly to dance. Yes, Larry's hair is weird...we get it. But I can't give this anything less than an eight...why? I'd be a chowderhead to give it anything less. It's the Stooges. It really was...Yes...Curly's too tall/big. They're all too tall, etc. But this is an homage of the top order when we see the Stooges and their shtick. Yes, there are moments when it becomes a bit much. There are times when the "violence" becomes a bit too real, again for story purposes. There's times modern sensibilities ruin the fun. But trust me, when you see the Jersey Shore cast as Moe's mercy, and when the Kardasian joke hits like a 2 ton bag of flour...you'll get the funny. Also stay into the credits for a bit of extra Stooges fun.

Do I recommend it?...well, soit...oh, you saw that coming, didn't you, porcupines? Why I oughta...