'THE THREE STOOGES'

'THE THREE STOOGES (PG) (2 STARS)

Written by by Mike Cerrone,Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Actors: Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Sofia Vergara, Larry David, Jane Lynch, Jennifer Hudson, Stephen Collins

"The Three Stooges" are iconic and when you try to make a modern day homage to it you can get two different feelings off it. You can see it as a waste of time because you are a fan and no one can ever be as great as the originals. Or you can admire the acting, the pitch perfect recreation of the three and admire the story that feels like an original Stooges story but just get bored after the novelty wears off. I felt the second way because I admire the attempt at recreating "The Three Stooges" with heart but I just didn't feel like I saw a good movie. The three lead actors playing each Stooge are wonderful and perfect, the movie is not.

Chris Diamantopoulos (24) is Moe, Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) is Larry and Will Sasso (Mad TV) is Curly and they are all great and capture each Stooge's traits extremely well. We first see the Stooges as children being dropped on the step of an Orphanage with a nun who is played by Larry David (Don't groan, David is very funny here). The Stooges grow up, are still in the Orphanage but finally go out on their own as adults. They have to go out in the World to raise money to save their Orphanage. They meet a sexy bombshell, played by Sofia Vergara, and she hires them to kill her husband. The plot is something the real Stooges would get involved in and I think the television show actually had a plot like that.

The plot makes sense for a Stooges story and I loved all the actors including Larry David and Sofia Vergara. The three lead actors are very funny and capture The Stooges near perfectly. I did like some of the movie but my favorite parts weren't the slapstick parts, it was the funny asides and dialogue that you have to pay attention to to get. The slapstick is also perfectly recreated but after too much of the same old schtick I got bored and tired. Here is the deal, the Stooges are funny in 30 minute doses, an hour and a half of the slapstick straight goes a long way and is too much. There is only so many eye poking, hammer to the head hits and face smacking you can handle, at least to me.

The Farrelly Brothers obviously love "The Three Stooges" and like I said I liked the movie to a certain point and they lovingly recreate their antics very well. The Farrellys have been reviewed unfairly and movies like their under rated "The Ringer" are better than the critics say they are. So "The Three Stooges" is not as bad as I thought it would be because I like the heart behind the movie. It isn't that bad of a family movie but getting Moe involved with the reality televison show "Jersey Shore" could be frowned on by Stooges purists but getting the Stooges involved with today's pop culture makes sense. Actually that part of the movie was actually fresher and funnier than the umpteenth time the three hit each other . Stooges fans might admire this movie or might think it is blasphemous. I was a medium Stooges fan and I felt good and bad about it.

P.S. For a better family movie, a better recreation of a television show or iconic character Robert Altman's extremely under rated "Popeye" with Robin Williams is better than Stooges. Or check out the classic Stooges televison show just released on DVD instead of the movie.