THE THREE STOOGES
US, 2012, 92 minutes, Colour.
Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos, Jane Lynch, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Hudson, Craig Bierko, Stephen Collins, Larry David.
Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly.
Sophisticated, it ain’t.
Knockabout comedy is a good phrase to describe any Three Stooges comedy – knocks, hits, bangs, tweaks, jabs, pokes, bops, plugs, dongs, biffs and boffs, socks, clunks, and general in-your-face (well, their faces and of any unlucky bystanders) physical mayhem. And it is slapstick – emphasis on the slap. In fact, this film could serve as a visual compendium of slapstick.
The film is not a biography of the men who became the screen’s Three Stooges in the 1930s and continued to be popular with their short films until the 1950s – and then a new lease of life on television. That was done in the 2000 film, also called The Three Stooges (and filmed in Sydney). Rather, this is a fictional story with the three stooges as the main characters. It is divided into 3 short films, interlinked for the story and presented as films starring the Three Stooges.
This means that Sean Hayes (from Will and Grace) is Larry and impersonates the character and style of the original Larry. Chris Diamantopolous does the same for Moe and Will Sasso for Curley (the one with no hair). They look the part of the originals and go through the well-known routines (as well as the punning that Curley is prone to). What we get is a Three Stooges’ experience. Three boys do the impersonations at age 10, and they are very good at it too.
The plot is an old one. Orphanage is on the brink of bankruptcy (owing to the mishaps of the boys – who missed out on being adopted when they were ten). Shades of the Blues Brothers. Almost a million dollars is needed and the boys promise they will find it. The orphanage is run by Sisters of Mercy (fictional rather than real) with Jane Lynch taking time off from Glee (and much more benign here) as Mother Superior. Jennifer Hudson is one of the nuns and gets an opportunity to sing. The main nun, a caricature (well, mostly) of the severe and cranky sisters of the past, Sister Mary Mengele, is played by Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Larry David who seems to relish his roaring at the kids, while being the butt of bangs, clunks, dongs etc.
There is a sub-plot with the boys hired to kill an allegedly unkind husband. Well, everything goes wrong, of course, with the wrong victim run over by a bus (but, surviving, after all it is a PG movie). The plot lines link up with an adoption story from the boys’ past and it all ends happily with some sentimental moments about the orphanage, a sick little girl and a bereft little boy.
Obviously, it is for Three Stooges fans, of which the Farelley Brothers who wrote and directed the film (and made films like Dumb and Dumber) must take the head of the queue as number one fans, making their 2012 film just like those of the past. They also come on screen at the end to warn kids not to imitate the pranks (after all, the hammers etc on screen were rubber and relied on sound effects for their impact).
One satisfied viewer said that watching it sent him back to being a ten year old. So, there you are.
1. The popularity of the Three Stooges? Their fans? Expectations?
2. A 21st century equivalent of the Three Stooges films, characters, situations, characteristic behaviour?
3. Slapstick comedy, knockabout comedy – and the Farrellys’ warning at the end about children imitating?
4. The success of the impersonations of each of the Three Stooges?
5. The structure, the three stories and the highlighting of the Stooges? The titles?
6. The arrival of the babies at the orphanage, looking like their older counterparts? The Sisters of Mercy, receiving the children?
7. The kids at ten, looking like their adult counterparts, mischief, mannerisms, the issue of adoption? Life at the orphanage? The kindly superior? Sister Mary-Mengele? and her tyranny? The line-up for adoption? The Harter family? The decision to take Moe? His wanting the others to be adopted? Their promise, the return, taking Teddy? Moe’s motivations – and his telling a wrong story? The others’ discovery later?
8. The sisters, the superior, Sister Rosemary, Sister Ricarda, Sister Mary-Mengele?
9. Sister Mary-Mengele?, portrayed by Larry David, the caricature of the harsh nun, yet the butt of the slapstick comedy?
10. The adult Stooges, not adopted, working as handymen – and their pratfalls, running up the debts? The monsignor’s arrival – and their attack on him? The thirty days to find the money?
11. Their decision, to go to try and find the money, their travelling, the encounters, busking on the streets, their work?
12. Their encounter with Lydia and Mac, Lydia’s plan, to murder her husband, talking with the Stooges, offering the money, her lies? Their attacking Mac, thinking he was the husband, his being run over by the bus, hospital?
13. Their plans, thwarted, going to the hospital – trying to keep the bargain, to get the money?
14. Meeting Teddy, his friendship, the offer for them to stay with him, their refusal?
15. The chase, their hiding, their performance and hitting each other? The irony that it was a theatre, the audition? The cast of Jersey Shore? Reality show? Moe becoming a celebrity? The television scenes?
16. Larry and Curly, the break with Moe, the return to the orphanage, the sick girl, the boy wanting to be adopted?
17. The murder story, their discovery that Teddy was the target? Going to the fair, reuniting with Moe? Teddy and his being poisoned? Their saving him? Going to visit the father, his being litigious? The irony of his unmasking, the affair with Lydia, their wanting Teddy dead?
18. The slap solution? The slapstick and the happy ending?
19. The return, seeing the boarded-up orphanage, going next door, happy, sentiment? The little girl, getting medical help, Teddy and his adopting the boy and the little girl? The nuns?
20. Sister Mary-Mengele?, her comeuppance? The film as the equivalent of a 20th century Three Stooges experience?
