Saturday, 14 April 2012 02:59

Written by Robert Biller

What do you get when you give the Farrelly brothers a modest $30 million budget, three third-tier stars, and a dumpster full of slapstick gags that are old enough to qualify for Social Security? Give up? Well, knucklehead, you get the greatest and latest Moe, Larry and Curly movie since “The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.” Wait! I know what you’re thinking! If those raunch-com kings, the Farrelly brothers (There’s Something About Mary), are involved, this film will be an adult-oriented, R-rated filth-fest! Not-to-worry! The Three Stooges is a family-friendly, PG-rated flick with no nudity or naughty dialogue. But there is plenty of violence…slapstick, make-believe, cartoony violence! The kind of over-the-top, impossibly silly violence that kids – and adults – have always enjoyed and rarely emulated. I laughed so hard during peeing baby gunfights and Larry David (playing a crotchety nun) disasters and lobster lunacy that I hearkened back to those halcyon days of my youth when America had a sense of humor, and we believed in ourselves: Few Americans scoffed when Jack Kennedy boasted we would win the “Space Race” and put a man on the Moon! The movie also, for some nostalgic reason, made me remember going outside on April days like today and picking wildflowers to give to my Mom.

If this movie has a flaw, it’s Sean Hayes being badly miscast as Larry. But Will Sasso (Curly) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Moe) are so good they ameliorate the casting blunder.

So, take it from Toadsly and Froggy (Froggy’s the one wearing the Larry wig), that The Three Stooges is well worth the price of admission. Put your brain in neutral, get lots of butter on your popcorn, and enjoy the wild ride!