Review of The Three Stooges (2012) by Ashley L — 20 Nov 2012

An excellent film in tribute to the enduring comedy troupe. It is a carefully told story with the stooge bits carefully staged. While it would be impossible to match the originality of the Stooge's shorts, in other ways the film is superior.

Each of the approximately 180 Three Stooges shorts were made in about two weeks. They looked it. The scripts are reckless. The gags are repeated. And the budgets limited the scope. In the Farrelly Brother's film care is taken in every way.

While the Stooge gags are modelled on the original Curly, Larry and Moe they have been updated and been planned better, creating a clever imitation while not falling into banal repetitiveness for those who have seen the classic shorts.

The old two reelers were a small part of a grand show that people would see at the theatre. This would include a newsreel, a cartoon, a short subject, an A feature and a B feature. Often, people would be getting popcorn when the Stooges were on.

And the studio could not anticipate that the films would one day be shown on the then not existent media of television, one after another. It seemed that quality did not matter, past a point. It is quite incredible that the shorts were so good because few actually went to the movies just to see the Stooges.

The Farrelly Brothers were inspired by the Stooges when planning the low comedy moments in movies like Dumb and Dumber, Something about Mary and Shallow Hal. Now they have done well in creating an updated tribute to their muse.

I recommend it for everyone, but even more for children and fans.Please be aware that this is the third tribute film for the Stooges. Stoogemania came out in 1986 with Josh Mostel. The Three Stooges was made for TV in 2000.

Both films were enjoyable. Neither can touch the new release.