The Three Stooges - review

 
The Three Stooges
24 August 2012

I don’t suppose too many people remember the real Three Stooges, who never made a feature but gave us all slapstick fun with a series of two-reelers shown in post-war Britain in news theatres on some of the main London rail stations. They were not Laurel and Hardy or even Abbott and Costello, but Larry, Curly and Moe slapped each other silly and poked each other in the eye for a good number of years.

Now, at last, we have a full-blown movie from the American Farrelly brothers (Peter and Bob) with Sean Hayes, Will Sasso and Chris Diamantopoulos as the trio of hopefully lovable fools.

The comedy is basic, with the three causing havoc in the Catholic orphanage in which they are incarcerated, sending Sister Mary-Mengele (Larry David) and Mother Superior (Jane Lynch) into paroxysms of despair. But when it comes to saving the orphanage from financial predators, they do their best, or worst, to raise the money.

Everything depends on how the new trio perform, and that’s the main pleasure of the film. Slapstick isn’t easy but they are often superb, as well as having a soundtrack that underlines each slap, poke and cry of surprise or pain.

This could have been a truly awful summation of the work of such minor legends but it works surprisingly well. And surely has no need of the two Farrelly brothers.

Cert PG, 92 mins

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