The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges (2012) Starring: Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso, Jane Lynch, Larry David, Sofia Vergara, Larry David

Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly

Being familiar with the original Three Stooges films from the 1930s to early 1960s, I was leery about seeing this latest revival. In fact, during the first few minutes of watching this on Blu-ray, I was almost tempted to turn it off. However, once I let go of over analyzing the actors’ impressions of the original cast, I was quickly caught up in the spirit of the story and began to enjoy it. Furthermore, this cast did a great job of capturing the nuances of the originals.

I loved that they used an old melodramatic story line involving orphaned children living in an orphanage run by nuns. There was once an era in Hollywood where orphaned kids were a standard dramatic plot device. Now, poking fun at that old tradition is funny from the onset. Larry David playing a nun (without even trying not to act like a man) set the comedy bar low while raising the laugh quotient for everything else.

The opening establishes the characters as orphaned children. Soon enough, the childhood versions grow into the adult stooges and the pace and laughs pick up. Sean Hayes does a spot-on Larry, only much funnier I dare say, than the original. I’ll watch this again if only for Sean Hayes. I haven’t laughed so hard in years. Ditto for Sofia Vergara in her role as the villain. She has a gift for comedic expression that rivals that of Lucille Ball or Carol Burnette. I could watch her do comedy all day.

Will Sasso delivers an energetic Curly, as does Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe. At times, the physical shtick between the trio of stooges is almost too much for a modern audience, but better too much than not enough, especially in this homage.

There’s no point in dissecting the plot in detail because it’s a Three Stooges movie, not Mission Impossible. The climax is reminiscent of a Marx Brothers finale. There’s a grand anniversary party with all of the sub plots and characters converging in non-stop sight gags and one-liners. Hayes blows the lid off with goofiness not seen since Daniel Stern’s “Marv” (one of the bumbling crooks) in Home Alone.

With due haste, all loose ends are tied up at the conclusion. Then notably, after the close of the film, the directors offer cautionary advice to young viewers about the dangers of imitating the slapstick physical stunts of the stooges. They exhibit rubber hammers used by the actors to clobber one another (not real hammers, of course). They also demonstrate how to feign an eye poking without really putting out an eyeball, emphasizing that none of the comedic actions should be imitated. Even though I agree with this offering of precautions, it’s somewhat bizarre (and slightly pathetic) that a disclaimer like this is warranted today when it wasn’t even considered a half century ago. Changing times.

I loved this film. They pulled it off better than I expected, with plenty of laughs–precisely what The Three Stooges have always been about.

My Grade: A-

Robert Reoch

Copyright Robert George Reoch Publishing