"The Three Stooges"

The Three Stooges; a compact and concise review
("The Three Stooges; starring Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulos, directed by the Farrelly Brothers)
We are reaching a point in our lives when old is new again. If you don't believe me look at a the fashion world right now, models are wearing suspenders and fedoras, and rainbow and neon is being replaced by brown...and more brown. Everything works in a huge cycle and movies are no exception. However there comes a time when something which stopped being relevant decades ago needs to stay irrelevant. This movie was very inspired by the series we all know and love, and yet it failed. The biggest problem with this film was that it tried too hard to be, The Three Stooges, and as a result lost all of the magic that we associate with it. People love The Three Stooges because it reflected a more innocent time and everything was well. The update also updated the time frame into our cold narcissistic dystopia where no one feels safe. But I digress, let us dig a bit deeper into this flick.

Plot: 5/25: It was rough, even for a Three Stooges movie. Everything seemed to just happen, none of the characters improved or changed, and the ending felt unsatisfactory. Very few things here are original, the very plot itself, trying to raise money to save an orphanage, has been done over and over again to much greater effect. Nothing felt new, and the film dragged because of it.

Acting: 25/50: No one is ever going to be nominated for an Oscar here, but it could have been a lot worse. Will Sasso's performance as Curly was nothing short of inspired, he embodied his role and would've made the original Curly proud. The other two Stooges, while giving admirable performances fell short on this count. The ensemble was decent and provided laughs that might have been lost without them, there were,  however, a few very wooden performances by Sophia Vegara, Craig Bierko, and the cast of Jersey Shore, who apparently can't even play themselves in a movie.

Directorial Points 15/25: Directed by the Farrelly Brothers, this film was in good hands. The screenplay left much to be desired, but the duo rose to the challenge and presented a decent film. From the guys who brought us "There's Something About Mary" and "Dumb and Dumber" their trademarks were very prevalent throughout this film. Slapstick humor, oafish characters, disabled characters, this film has them and more.

Conclusion: Watch this movie for a few stupid laughs one night, or take your kids to it they'll love it. This is a stupid film, and it's meant to be that way, enjoy it for what it is.

Total: 45/100
iMDB: 43/100
Metacritic: 55/100
Roger Ebert: 2.5 stars