The Three Stooges

Cast & Crew

Sean Hayes

Larry

Will Sasso

Curly

Chris Diamantopoulos

Moe

Jane Lynch

Mother Superior

Sofía Vergara

Lydia

Jennifer Hudson

Sister Rosemary

Larry David

Sister Mary-Mengele

Craig Bierko

Mac

Stephen Collins

Mr. Harter

Kirby Heyborne

Teddy

Carly Craig

Mrs. Harter

Kate Upton

SisterBernice

Marianne Leone

Sister Ricarda

Brian Doyle-Murray

Monsignor Ratliffe

Peter Farrelly

Director

Robert Farrelly

Director

Peter Farrelly

Screenwriter

Robert Farrelly

Screenwriter

Mike Cerrone

Screenwriter

Peter Farrelly

Producer

Robert Farrelly

Producer

Bradley Thomas

Producer

Charles B. Wessler

Producer

Earl M. Benjamin

Executive Producer

Robert N. Benjamin

Executive Producer

Marc S. Fischer

Executive Producer

Matthew F. Leonetti

Cinematographer

Arlan Jay Vetter

Production Design

Sam Seig

Film Editing

Denise Wingate

Costume Design

John Debney

Original Music

Amy Lee Wheeler

Art Director

Cindy Carr

Set Decoration

Rick Montgomery

Casting

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Critic Reviews for The Three Stooges

Audience Reviews for The Three Stooges

• Apr 25, 2013

  Bobby and Peter Farrelly bring old style slapstick comedy to modern days with <i>The Three Stooges</i>.<p>The story is simple and requires less than 90 minutes to tell. The story is also told in episodes, which is broken up quite nicely and laced with the original theme song. With that said, the story does take a back seat to the antics of the Stooges.</p><p>The slapstick humor and sound effects stay true to how the Stooges should behave and it is all delivered at rapid fire pace for most of the film. The biggest challenge is finding a way to work this comedy into modern times. At times, this picture successfully does that, but at others it is awkward and out of place.</p><p>Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes, and Will Sasso deliver good performances. Their facial expressions, movements, and line delivery successfully brings out the personalities of the Stooges.</p><p><i>The Three Stooges</i> will definitely divide the audience, but fans of the original series will get the most out of this.</p>
  

  Super Reviewer
• Apr 13, 2013

  The film wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. The Farrelly brothers had a great idea for a film, but they didn't execute it correctly. I did like the structure of the film and the style. A lot of the jokes were stupid and off. However, there was a lot in the film that was funny, like when we see the Stooges as children and the Jersey Shore skit in the film. All 3 actors are great as the Stooges. They have an amazing on screen chemistry. They also have great comic timing. They just needed a better story than this. I felt like I have seen the saving of the orphanage story line in other movies like Nacho Libre. Jane Lynch and Jennifer Hudson are great in their roles. I thought Larry David was miscast and too over the top in his role. Craig Bierko was also over the top. Sofia Vergara was actually good here.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Mar 28, 2013

  Okay, I could swear that I already reviewed this but..whatever. The directors of the Three Stooges take all the charm out of the original series and movies by trying to transport it directly into the modern day where it falls well short. Well meaning but not worth your time.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Jan 22, 2013

  I never thought I would ever see the day in which Sean Penn is recast with Sean Hayes of "Will & Grace" in anything, and I never thought I would look at such an event and be glad that it happened, but when it comes to a film like this, between Harvey Milk and Jack McFarland, I'm gonna stick with the latter gay icon, though not as I'm sticking with the recast of Benicio del Toro with Chris Diamantopoulos, because, come on, no matter what the liberals may say, do you really want to see a Mexican Moe Howard, or rather, a "Moexican" (Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk)? Jeez, all of these serious actors were offered the chance to be Stooges, and all the while, they're switching out Idris Elba with Tyler Perry for the role of Alex Cross, which is why I reckon the Farrelly brothers were aiming at getting Jim Carrey as Curly for real comic relief, and even then, Carrey is such a committed actor that he gained 40 pounds to play Curly Howard. Yeah, that film would have been a mess, but really, if I can be totally honest, I would have loved to have seen a hardcore dramatic "Three Stooges" film with Sean Penn, Benecio del Toro and Jim Carrey at his most serious, not because the acting would have ostensibly been awesome, but just out of morbid curiosity, yet such a film never came, partially because the producers realized that the Three Stooges would look at that film and thought it was stupid, and partially because Carrey got scared about his poow wittle health. If they wanted to get someone who would have gotten the weight gaining job done, and "round out" (Fat jokes, anyone?) a bizarrely serious cast, Jared Leto could have come in and really made Carrey look like a wimp, though I might just be saying that because I'm so desperate to see Leto return to film that I'd be willing to have him come back as Curly Howard, or even Clint Howard, even though Leto still looked better than Clint Howard when he had half of his face pounded into one big bruise in "Fight Club". Lord knows that I was certainly begging for Leto to be Curly when I first saw this film's trailer, because no one sees Jared Leto films and shouldn't see what this film's promotional material seemed to be advertizing. Of course, when it came down to it, this film delivered more than expected on good ol' Stoogey fun. Still, don't get too excited, kids, because this film is far from the powerhouse that it, well, most definately would "not" have been with Sean Penn, Moexic-I mean, Benecio del Toro and Jim Carrey/Jared Leto, facing its share of bonks on the head by more than a few shortcomings. If I can be totally honest, I am not too terribly familiar with the classic slapstick series upon which this film is based, but it certainly has my respect, so I was definately on board with everyone who expressed major concern that this film was going to be "hipped up" with lame shots at contemporary pop culture that do grave injustice to late comedy legends who crafted this film's source material, but really, I ultimtately found that this film really is primarily driven by nostalgia, though not necessarily ceaselessly, as there still come more than a few occasions in which the film crowbars in contemporary touches, from emphatic pop culture references to a terrible culturally relevant yet, for the film, startlingly unfitting soundtrack, that aren't simply offputting or awkward, but all-out embarassing in their being shamelessly forced into the midst of a film that is generally powered by its nostalgia, thus making for a film whose intentions are about as uneven as its tone. As you can imagine, there is absolutely no point in this film that is to be taken too seriously, yet there are perhaps too many points in which this film forgets that, whether when it's doing something as simple as strangely getting to be a touch too down-to-earth for its own good with its humor, which is generally very over-the-top, or going really far with tonal unevenness by taking itself too seriously and attempting shots for emotional notes that fall flat, not sometimes, or most of the time, but every single time, as cloying (It doesn't help that this film's child performers set the standard of child acting back to the days of the original "Three Stooges"), occasionally to the point of almost all-out destroying the film. Of course, no matter how uneven this film's tone is, cheesiness remains consistent throughout all of this film's notes, tainting not only all of the saccharine moments, but even more than a few pieces of the humor, which will sometimes slip into frantic immaturity and over-the-top slapstick that prove to be overbearing, especially when backed by the classic "Three Stooges" sound effects that are nice to have for nostalgia's sake and all, but get old something fierce after a while. The film's faithfulness to its source material's absurdity gets to be problematic, though not as often as this film's faithfulness to its source material's episodicity, being split into "episodes" that awkwardly toy with the film's focal momentum and would be more forgivable if they weren't intertwined, to a certain degree, to where every subplot that is forcibly introduced feels more like a component to considerable focal unevenness that ultimately comes down to an ending that, I must say, was so weak that it nearly drove the whole film into, at best, mediocrity, seeing as how it reflected all of the film's flaws and just how undercooked this film's story is. Now, look, I'm not at all asking for a whole lot out a "Three Stooges" film, no matter much the cloyingly sweet moments try to tug at your emotional investment, but this film's story gets to be too thin for its own good by trying to be meaty enough to have all of the aforementioned storytelling mistakes, like cloying melodrama and focal unevenness, that reflect just how lacking this film's substance is. If nothing else, this film's story is too thin to compensate for the intensity of the flaws, of which, there aren't as many as I feared, but still plenty, for although this film is more decent that I expected, it takes too much damage to recover all that comfortably from mediocrity. Still, make no mistake, this film does, in fact, recover as genuinely decent, on the whole, having plenty of low notes and consistent flaws, but ultimately pressing on as an entertaining comedy piece by its own right, and generally reasonably respectful nostalgia piece. Again, this film's nostalgia gets to be problematically handled on too many occasions, getting to be a bit overbearing in its faithfulness to its source material's sometimes annoying absurdity, when not abandoned for more than a few of the embarassing contemporaneous touches that I feared I was going to see more of, but really, on the whole, it's hard not to see that this film does justice to its legendary source material, because although I'm hardly all that experienced with the original "Three Stooges", I know enough to see that much effort is put into this film's nostalgia, delivering on nifty attention to detail and winks at the audience that are not too esoteric for the non-"Stooges" watcher, like me, and will be eaten up by bonafide "Stooges" fans, but not so heavily pronounced that they take you out of the film, being generally fairly organic in their incorporation as one of the film's more clever aspects. At the very least, nostalgia is among the film's most charming aspects, and while that does, of course, make the betraying nods to contemporary pop culture all the more embarassing, the film's celebration of its source material is consistent and effective enough to stand as an unexpectedly clever moment in a script that does more than just nostalgia generally right. The film's plotting is, of course, thin, and when it's not, it gets to be uneven, both focally and tonally, so in order to keep a story this messily composed adequately engaging, you're going to need to deliver on some colorful compensation, and sure enough, Mike Cerrone's and the Farrelly Brothers' script delivers on lively characterization that gives what plot there is plenty of neat fluff, and what characters who aren't lamely paper-thin plenty of color, while complimenting the humor that drives this film, as sure as it drove this film's source material. A big component to this film's substance thinness is, of course, slapstick comedy's being essentially the primary focus of this project, so the final product's final fate truly rests in the hands of the humor. When it comes down to the long run, as I said, this film hits faulty moments with its humor, and sure enough, those moments are some of the final product's absolute lowest in quality, which should tell you just how few and far between fall-flat jokes are in this film, because what helps as much as anything in granting the final product its overall decency are the lively slaptick set pieces and witty dialogue moments that powered this film's source material and win you over much more often than not with this film, and do so with considerable help from the audacity within the Farrelly Brothers' direction, and, of course, the leads, who truly carry this film. Now, I'm not proposing Oscar nominations or anything, but really, all of this film's nostalgia, color and humor wouldn't be sold as firmly as it ultimately is, and the film wouldn't be saved from, at best, mediocrity as surely as it is, without leads Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso, all of whom are astonishingly and transformatively impeccable in their portrayals of the legendary titular Three Stooges, nailing not only the distinct likeness and mannerisms of their characters, but Moe Howards', Larry Fine's and Curly Howard's distinct delightful charisma and sparkling chemistry, thus making for leads who quickly and near-effortlessly slip into their roles, and do just what the real Three Stooges did: carry a thin project. Our leads bond with their roles are easily of the film's most satisfying aspects, not to where I would necessarily consider our leads' performances all-out phenomenal, seeing as how this is most definately not that kind of film, but certainly to where they do the most in battling back the shortcomings that all but ruin this film, while emphasizing the considerable deal of strengths that go into making this film better than expected and, of course, plenty of fun, even with the many flaws that dilute all of the fun and games. To end this skit, the film's nostalgia finds moments of betrayal at the hands of embarassing nods and contemporary pop culture that prove to be ever so awkwardly forced, as well as inorganic with the film's flow, though not quite as much as the unexpected dives into cloying sentimentality from humor that does admittedly fall flat at times, and messy episodicity that sparks focal unevenness and emphasizes this film's story's being almost too thin to obscure the negative impact of the shortcomings, which decidedly drive the final product into underwhelmingness, yet can't battle back the strengths that save this film as decent, as there is enough charm to nostalgia, color to what plotting there is, effectiveness to humor and, of course, transformative impeccability to the sparklingly charismatic leads Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso to make Peter and Bobby Farrelly's "The Three Stooges" an entertaining homage to true comedy legends, even with its many missteps. 2.5/5 - Fair
  

  Super Reviewer