Im someone who’s always down for some Stoogery, and over the past few years i’ve been slowly, meticulously working my way through all of the Stooges short films (im currently up to 1942 as of the time of writing). But what got me into these loveable guys and their ‘nyuk nyuk’ antics? Well, it was this film by the guys who wrote ‘Dumb and Dumber’.

The plot? Well, the films presented in ‘episodic’ format, with each of the acts simultaineously covering there own respective shenangians, while a ‘through’ plot runs across the three ‘acts’. In the first episode, we’re introduced to the Stooges as kids, living in an orphanage and raising holy hell for the nuns who run the place, the episode concerns the stooges attempting to get out of the orphanage by way of adoption, with a loving family dropping in looking for the right kid, and they pick Moe…Only. Moe doesnt want to be adopted without the other guys, one thing leads to another, and he’s sent back to the orphanage.

We then jump forward to the Stooges as adults, as they’re still trying to be adopted, while also acting as the orphanages ‘effective’ groundskeepers. hilarity ensues. But when the orphanage needs to raise 830 grand to cover the various insurance claims caused by the Stooges over the years, Larry, Curly and Moe set out into the big world to raise the money and save the orphanage by hook or by crook.

‘Episode 2’ is then essentially the stooges working various jobs trying to raise the cash, and failing to do so, while also ending up embroiled in a murder plot by a wealthy wife who wants rid of her husband. as you can imagine…shenanigans ensue, leading to a fracture in the Stooges as Moe decides to leave the group to fend for themselves. and in a VERY outspoken display, hes noticed by some TV execs who pick him up (im not kidding…) to be the new person on the latest season of MTV’s ‘Jersey Shore’ (it…it was the early 2010s…its basically a different world now…)

‘Episode 3’ sees Larry and Curley trying various jobs to raise the cash, realising that ‘HEY! That wife who wanted us to kill her husband MAY be a bad guy! and, when they see Moe is performing slapstick shenanigans on the Jersey Shore crew on TV, the pair race to reunite with Moe, and get to the bottom of a deadly murder case that THEY now may be embroiled in.

And I say this sincerely, barring a couple of scenes, this film QUITE surprisingly, is an absolute love letter to the Stooges in my opinion. The script and pre production process must have frankly been insane, because they’ve managed to capture the mannerisms of the boys so effectively, its like they’re in the room more often than not.

Its effectively like they’ve taken these Vaudville tropes, and rather than modernise them, they’ve just tried to write in the style of, but set it in the modern day. and I think that works incredibly well here, giving this film a quite distinct ‘Pee Wees Big Adventure’, with just a hint of ‘Rocky and Bullwinkle’ vibe to it. That ‘fish out of water’ tone and the intense dedication to word play, puns, screwball comedy, effective and complex slapstick and even the sly nod and a wink to the original Stooge run, I think is incredibly effective, and I can honestly say I gut laughed through most of this.

The pacing moves at a clip, the act structuring is superb, the characters are solidly written, have complexity and show the Stooges in a somewhat more caring, deeper way that the original run never really tried to. The dialogues immaculate…Honestly? I only have one problem with the scripting for this film, and thats the Gross out humour and what im going to politely refer to as ‘Studio Notes’.

Im not opposed to a little gross out humour, the Stooges wernt really known for it, but did dabble rarely. But here? there are a couple of blocked out scenes where they almost exclusively go all in on gross out, and it just didnt land with me, it felt weirdly forced in…like they were ideas for another movie that got cut and pasted into this one. and it kind of killed the vibe and momentum for me…it took a while to build it back up.

The other issue? is the moments where it feels like the studio sent down notes asking for more popular figures to be integrated into the film. The entire Jersey Shore subplot has aged like milk, doesnt work for me, isnt really funny, the Shore crew dont really seem to understand or get the humour. The whole thing feels crowbarred in, and mercifully, its only about 10 minutes of the total runtime…But it reeked of Studio intervention for me, and did once again kind of grind the vibe and momentum to a halt. A lot of this film worked for me…but those bits…those bits did not.

Outside of that, everything else just feels like classic Stoogery with a decent bit of money behind it, the direction is light, fun vibrant, they absolutely nail the physical effects and stuntwork with some of the best Stooge-play i’ve seen in a LONG time. its honestly quite remarkable, simultaineously how they build on what the original Stooges developed here, and the restraint they had in not simply rehashing the old gags. Im not saying they NEVER do ‘the classics’…but I am saying that the way they handle it feels natural and not veying for attention.

The cine too is frankly lovely, rich, colourful, well composed shots, the blending on physical effects and digitial CGI is smooth and feels unintrusive, the editing is phenominal. All things considered, this film to me may be the best comedy film on a technical level of the 2010’s if not of the 2000s up to this point. Its such a labour of love on this front and it really shows.

Performance wise? its a celebrity who’s who, with Will Sasso, Sean Hayes and Chris Diamantopoulos transformation into the boys being frankly eerily accurate, like; if you’d told me they’d pulled the stooges into the present day via time travel, id probably believe it. they clearly studied their absolute backsides off, because the performances are 1:1 with the original stooges, high energy, whimsical, unpredictable, but charming. Honestly; they’re just incredible.

And throw in celebrity cameos from Sofia Vergara, Kate Upton, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Hudson, Brian Murray and my personal favourite, Larry David as ‘Sister Mary Mengele’ who is just PERFECT here in role…I just cant fault this cast, its rock solid.

Easily though, my favoruite part of this film is the sound design, they sourced all the original Stooge sound effects for every ‘bonk’, eye polk, hit, crash and bang sound. and they use them perfectly, not to mention reworkings of all the older stooge music pieces…the only weird part, is that they meld this with modern (to the 2010s) soundtrak choices…which again, feel a bit like studio notes honestly…But hey, beggers cant be choosers.

All in all? I found ‘The Three Stooges’ to be a love letter to fans of the original antics, and a carefully curated attempt at showing the characters at their best in an attempt to win over new fans. A sequel to this film was in the works for years, but it appears its all dead in the water now, and I think thats a shame, because who wouldnt have loved a follow up where Larry Curely and Moe go on a big adventure to find their 4th brother ‘Shemp’?! I know i’d be there day one…

Yeah, I love this one. the script feels sincere and genuine in its intent, the direction and cine is vibrant and handled well, the humours delightful and the performances brilliant. Definitely worth owning to show your kids, Hell, definitely worth owning if your a ‘Stooges’ fan. I think you’d have to have a cold COLD heart not to at least appreciate that in the year of our lord 2012, someone out there had the heart and mind to want to make this work. and I think they succeeded.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-three-stooges/1/