s_campanale Review of The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges (2012)

An interesting experiment more than a film, yielding mixed results.

[6/10 · 25 April 2012]

I'm someone who falls into the category of life-long Three Stooges fan, so I was naturally quite excited (and curious) when I heard about this movie, especially when I saw it was being directed by latter-day laugh- meisters The Farelly Brothers. We are not going to get it here in the UK until late July, but fortunately a friend had obtained a copy which I have just watched. Right from the outset, the very idea of making a feature length Three Stooges movie set in the present day with imitators makes the film more of a conceptual experiment than an actual film, rather like the infamous Gus Van Sant "Psycho" recreation. The actors playing the Stooges, while not resembling them physically, make an excellent tribute act, capturing the spirit of the long dead stars and bringing them back to life for the modern audience. The Farelleys also do a good job of name-checking and recreating some of the Stooges famous routines. The eye pokes, hits, redecoration becomes destruction routine, lousy business ideas, getting squirted in the face, random animal abuse (done for real in the originals alas!), crazy vehicles, cartoonish use of explosives and a racing off into the distance ending, are all present and correct. This part of the movie works well. It is what has been added on that creates problems. The original movies were 15-20 minutes long, and had a basic high concept plot, explained in the first few seconds by supporting actors, upon which the three then incorporated several of their well-rehearsed routines, and they did not so much end as simply finish on a random punch line or gag. There was next to no character development because there was no need for these characters to develop – They were the mythopoeic agents of chaos and destruction, wrecking the pretensions and hypocrisy of those who lived only to raise their social station and conform to their society's norms, be they the nouveau riche, the law, the army, academia, medicine, or business. Yet at the same time they too had pretensions of their own, of skill and ability which they obviously did not possess, and so they were unwitting agents of destruction just as guilty as their victims, together bringing the whole silly civilized house of cards falling on their heads in the classic tradition of satire and comedy. One thing notably absent from their films was pathos and sentimentalism. One or two films had elements of this, cute kids or old ladies in need of help, where the Stooges were hired for their skill not their absence of it, but these were far and few between because they did not work in the basic theme outlined above. One can understand why, in making a full length feature film in 2012, they should introduce the "loser finds out it's all about relationships and friendship, learns life lessons and becomes a better person who knows what really matters" plot line. After all, the Farelleys virtually patented this structure in the modern cinema, but not only is this structure the complete antithesis of everything the Stooges stood for, but it's also now as old-hat and shop-worn as slapstick itself. It undercuts the brilliant work done by actors and directors in recreating the Stooges to then put them into so formulaic and tired a storyline. There is even a sick little girl and her best friend sub-plot which seems to be played completely straight, heightening what is already a dangerously high sugar count to almost fatal levels. Commercially it all makes sense, appealing to current audience taste and guaranteeing box office, but it makes what could have been something truly exciting into something ordinary and routine, a Farellely Brothers film featuring the Three Stooges rather than a Three Stooges film directed by the Farelleys. The noted "Three short films" structure is a nice nod to the originals but doesn't work as it is simply dividing up a single narrative into the usual three act structure rather than giving us three self-contained adventures. Jane Lynch, one of the funniest women in the world, plays straight woman here, and the main plot does indeed seem to be "borrowed" from the Blues Brothers. If it had been left as a "high concept" peg on which to hang the Stooges craziness, as in the originals, that would have been fine, but it's played out for real, just like the "Postman always rings twice" murder storyline, both of which become more important than the Stooges themselves .Adding "Jersey Shore" is an attempt to be very cutting edge and at the same time put some of the old anarchy into it, but it doesn't work either. The brothers dip their toes into the water so many times, only to pull back out again rather than go in. I hope I have not been too harsh on this film. It is obviously a labour of love, and a tribute to some of the greatest comedians of all time, with excellent recreations. It's simply that the result is so formulaic, hackneyed, unoriginal, and horribly sentimental and schmaltzy. But if it makes young people more aware of the originals, and brings them back into fashion (as cover versions do with the originals) then all the better for it.