3 stars (out of four)
Very few comedies run through as much goofiness as
cheerfully and with such lickity-split pacing as The Three Stooges, a revival of and loving tribute to those kings of
slapstick. Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly and written by the Farrellys
and Mike Cerrone, The Three Stooges
understands there is a certain unbridled comic joy that occurs when some dunce
hatches an idiotic idea and his pals agree without hesitation to help him carry
it out.
The Farrelly brothers are certainly not newcomers to this
approach. Their debut, Dumb and Dumber,
a film I treasure dearly, more or less features the same shtick as this one
with one less stooge. That was nearly twenty years ago and now they take on the
improbable task of revitalizing the antics of Larry, Curly and Moe for an
audience that might not share their nostalgia for the old skits.
The Stooges were bonking one another over the head as early
as the 1930s and though the Farrelleys plant them in the present day for this
movie, the Stooges’ comedy has been diligently preserved. Aside from a few
predictable jokes about Facebook poking (the Stooges are of course more
familiar with eye poking) and an appearance from the Jersey Shore cast, the
gags in The Three Stooges are mostly
classic slapstick.
The Farrellys execute their craft by simple means – a lot
of trick rubber hammers and sound effects – and skillfully choreograph scene
after scene of scene of inspired mayhem. The Stooges are a kind of living Rube
Goldberg machine; a single push or slap sets off a chain reaction of cartoon
violence that continues until one or all three are flat on the ground, nursing
their injuries. Every joke is carefully set up and watching the inevitable play
out is a lot of fun. When Larry blindly shoots an arrow into the sky, you know
it will make a well-timed reappearance by the end of the bit.
Much credit must also be given to Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean
Hayes and Will Sasso, who play Moe, Larry and Curly, respectively. They bound
around the sets with admirable energy and enthusiasm, grunting and whooping and
whining when applicable. Though they pretty much never stop thwacking each
other or slinging insults back and forth (these come most often from Moe, the
de facto leader of the trio), the Stooges, oddly enough, also have a believable
friendship. For all their antagonism, at the end of the day there is no one
else they would rather be with. After all, who else would tolerate their
company for more than a minute?
Certainly not Sister Mary-Mengele (a gender bending Larry
David), a nun at the orphanage the Stooges call home and frequent victim to
their sometimes accidental, sometimes intentional anarchy. Also making
appearances are Jane Lynch as Mother Superior and, in a villainous turn, Sofia
Vergara, whose Betty Boop proportions make her a nice fit for this brand of
cartoonish physical comedy. Inexplicably, Jennifer Hudson and Kate Upton also
show up as nuns but they don’t get much screen time or many jokes.
There is a plot too which I have neglected to mention that
involves the Stooges needing to gather $830,000 to save the orphanage. Though
the film follows this narrative throughout, it doesn’t grant it much
importance. The movie is divided into three segments – each with their own
retro-style title card – that ignore whatever progress the plot might have made
in the previous skit and instead simply mark a change in location for the
Stooges’ hijinks.
Having no more than the most cursory knowledge of the Three
Stooges, I am surprised to say how much I enjoyed this film. The comedy is
shamelessly lowbrow but also innocent. All of the Stooges’ friends in this
movie are children, which I do not think was ever a detail included in the old
skits but feels like the right choice here. The Stooges are very stupid but the
Farrellys are smart about being stupid and, I imagine, very happy to be able
to honor their heroes with a movie that certainly does the original trio no
injustice.
- Steve Avigliano, 4/15/12
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