Remember how crazy it sounded when there was talk of Sean Penn, Jim Carrey, and Benicio Del Toro playing the Three Stooges in a new Stooges relaunch? Remember how – even if you had no personal interest or affinity for the Stooges themselves – you were kinda curious about the project just because of those actors’ involvement? “Wow, two serious Oscar winners playing Larry and Moe in a big studio comedy,” you might have thought to yourself. “That’s crazy! A Three Stooges relaunch in 2012 seems more like something we’d see as a lame TV movie starring people like Will & Grace‘s Sean Hayes, MAD TV‘s Will Sasso, and Chris Diamantopoulos, the guy who played Robin Williams in Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of ‘Mork & Mindy’.” Well, if you actually thought that, you’re psychic. Cause that’s what we got.
And now we have a teaser trailer too.
The Three Stooges was directed by the Farrelly Bros, who, to be honest, do seem fairly appropriate for the material. I must concede that nothing about this project has ever appealed to me, other than the oddity factor present when Del Toro and Penn were involved. I have always been a Marx Brothers man myself. I’m a fan of slapstick, but even so, I got my fix of it from Tom and Jerry and the Looney Tunes as a kid. Stooges were never my bag. Though I respect that they were major influences on many artists of the generations above me (Sam Raimi to name the most obvious). Regardless, I can’t imagine the trailer below is going to make many Stooges fans particularly excited. This looks only a hair above The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy in ‘For Love or Mummy’. I won’t make any claims that I know what a Stooges relaunch should be, but there is just something about this vague origin-story set-up and pop culture flaunting approach that feels wrong, even to a non-fan such as myself. I also have mixed feelings in general about treating a performer’s life-long public persona as a character that can be played by other actors. I realize the Stooges cycled through several actor themselves, but that’s not quite the same thing. Curly replaced Shemp, and Curly Joe replaced Curly. We didn’t just keep getting new Curlys over the decades.
Though maybe I’m dead wrong and talking out of turn. Stooge fans, what do you think?
9 comments
I laughed. At least twice. Kill me now.
I will concede that I liked the timing on the crotch joke at the end.
I don’t know what sin I’ve committed to have this put before my eyes, but it must have been pretty bad.
That teaser filled me with a deep, inexplicable feeling of wrongness. The guy who plays Moe has the voice down, I’ll give them that.
Hate to be one of those internet know-it-alls, but I’ve been a lifelong Stooge fan, so I gotta correct you. Curly replaced Shemp when they went from Vaudeville to screen, then Shemp replaced Curly when he got ill. Shemp was replaced by Joe Palma, then Joe Besser, THEN Curly Joe DeRita. Being the Stoogephile that I am, I respect the work the actors put into resembling to the stooges, especially Chris Snuffleupogus or whatever his name is as Moe, and Snookie getting eye-poked by Moe had me rolling, but I can’t imagine the Farrelly brothers being capable anything but shitting on the legacy of the greatest comedy trio of all time.
This looks retarded.
That was probably the log line.
….everything tells me to say no to this, but for some reason it feels right? i’m confused
I laughed at the Snooki thing. Sue me.
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