Why you!

Updated on March 26, 2009 By Ken Begg 24 Comments

Since folks were talking about it in another, unrelated blog entry, here’s an official one for you guys to bemoan (or champion, if that’s your horribly, horribly misguided druthers) the announced plans for a Farrelly Brothers Three Stooges film starring (are you ready) Benicio Del Toro as Moe–ok, that’s pretty good–Sean Penn (!!) as Larry, and Jim Carry as Curly (!!!), presumably in a fat suit or via some CGI trickery.

It’s not a biopic, but the Farrellys’ attempt to bring the Stooges into the 21st century, in the guise of vastly less talented surrogates. The Farrellys have been trying to make this for some time, so long ago that fellow Stooge fan Woody Harrelson was once attached. If Del Toro wises up, perhaps Harrelson will return to the fold as Moe. I certainly wouldn’t think he’s too busy to accept the assignment.

UPDATE:

My favorite Shemp moment (and probably my second favorite Stooge bit) starts at 2:56. “I will raise the shade, the lovely shade, when the coast is clear…” Don’t ask me why, I just love it.

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  • jzimbert

    Who’s going to play Shemp? I demand Shemp! Well, not really. But if this was going to be good, I would demand Shemp.

  • Dr. Whiggs

    WHAT?

    Del Toro and Carrey (who I like, and is the only one of the three who does physical comedy) are nearly a foot taller than Moe and Curly, and a good five inches taller than Penn.

  • roger h

    Ugh.

    By the way Ken, did you notice you put a regular post (amazon thing) over the Meteor review? or did you want to get rid of the memory of that troll?

  • Thanks, Roger. I have no idea how that go there.

  • John M. Hanna

    I’m sorry, but as far as I’m concerned, no one else can do the Stooges. That biopic with Michael Chiklis was okay, but watching other people try to act like them just doesn’t work.

  • JoshG

    They did the samething with Laurel and Hardy, I remember seeing it as a kid.

  • Tork_110

    I can’t put into words how appalled I am that Sean Penn may portray one of the Three Stooges.

    The only silver lining I can see is that Sony might continue those chronological DVD sets and we might finally get the complete set of Shemp shorts and Joe shorts. Then I could convert all the shorts to mp4, put them on an iPod Touch and ignore this movie.

  • JoshG

    According to wikipedia Carry is planning to gain weight for the role, in the end I’m guessing they’re probably still going to have to use some sort of SFX.

    Also, looking at Penn’s filmography, as far I can tell he hasn’t made a comedy since the 80’s, in fact “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” seems to be his only comedy. I also realised that I’ve never seen a movie with Sean Penn in it; I’m not sure that’s a good thing or not.

  • Heli

    I propose that, rather than film this travesty, they just show 2 hours worth of old Stooges shorts back to back. Maybe the Farrellys could get free tickets or something to make up for their disappointment.

  • JoshG, you mean all those film Sean Penn was in were meant to be SERIOUS? So that “I Am Sam” thing wasn’t a spoof? Come on, at least some of them HAD to be comedies.

  • RFrost

    Oh that just hurts. If you love the Stooges, then watch the Stooges–don’t try to emulate them.

    Having actors mugging and mimicking is just sad. Sure, it’s easy to look at the Stooges and think, “It’s just three guys being silly.” But what made it work was that those guys had extensive vaudeville experience, tight timing and a host of other honed talents that modern screen actors do not possess.

    The closest you could come is “Disorderlies” with the Fat Boys, and that wasn’t exactly a monster success (although it did have Ralph Bellamy… how did that happen?).

    Oh well. It’s just more of the Hollywood remake machine’s rein of terror, taking great things and making sad knockoffs.

  • I agree with that. People underestimate their great comedic gifts at their peril.

  • BeckoningChasm

    You know, that casting COULD work…if the movie in question was “The Three ROBONIC Stooges.”

  • BT

    Or maybe we could actually wait until it comes out or the Farrely brothers explain their intentions before we all start sticking our heads in the oven? Regardless of your political leanings, Sean Penn created an iconic comic character in Jeff Spicoli, so he CAN do comedy, as can Carrey and DelToro. Furthermore, even if this entire film consists of them pooping on themselves, THE ORIGINALS WILL STILL EXIST. It’s not like they are destroying all of the old shorts to use the film stock for this. If it sucks, it will fade into obscurity.

    The only reason I can see you guys freaking out is if this project will take the place of an even better one. It seems to me that you guys don’t want it to happen REGARDLESS of who plays the 3 stooges, as the stooges can’t be copied. So clearly, the Farrely’s aren’t ruining that aspect for you.

    The fact that the Farrely’s “Heartbreak Kid” sucked (by all accounts) bodes poorly for this, but it does not for ONE minute take away from how great the Grodin version of “Heartbreak Kid” was. The same will hold true here.

    Relax.

  • the antithesis

    Making a Three Stooges movie like this is like making an “I Love Lucy” movie, the way they keep making movies out of television shows these days.

    This is a bad idea because the whole purpose of “I Love Lucy” was to provide a showcase for the talents of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They’re both dead, so there is no reason to make an “I Love Lucy” movie. And there is no reason to make a Three Stooges movie. They’re all dead.

  • Grumpy

    Next up, a new Marx Brothers movie starring Peter Frampton and the Bee-Gees.

    Y’know, in the Sam Raimi sense of “Shemp” as an ersatz stand-in, all three Stooges will be Shemps.

  • Greenhornet

    Next up, a new Marx Brothers movie starring Peter Frampton and the Bee-Gees.

    “Brain Donners”, a lesser “Night At the Opera”

  • JoshG

    Andrew, no I wasn’t sure as indicated by the phrases “as far as I can tell” and “seems to be”. However, my observation seems to be wrong so I shall concede.

    That said, I’m curious what is “I Am Sam” a spoof of?

  • JoshG, I thought it was a spoof of every one of those 80’s “mentally retarded hero” movies and shows. Be it Corky from “Life Goes on” or Benny from “LA Law”. Basically, they would yo-yo between having barely enough cognitive function to keep them breathing and displaying enlightenment slightly greater than the Shaolin master from Kung Fu, depending on what was needed for the plot to advance. (And yes I know the actor in Life Goes on had Downs Syndrome, that doesn’t mean that the plot was in any way accurate. All the actors in blaxploitation flicks were black, but that doesn’t mean Shaft reflects the reality of the 70’s.) I used to get quite a laugh out of them. So I figured “I Am Sam” was making fun of that sort of facile, tear-jerker, oh-so-enlightened plot.

    Otherwise, it means serious people thought that those sort of plots were good ideas over a decade later. And invested a fortune in it.

    I certainly hope it was satire.

  • Oh, one thing. I am not being as insensitive as I sound. In the late 80’s I was working as a vocational instructor with the mentally retarded, which was why these “mentally retarded sage” plots stuck in my memory, because they had so little to do with reality. Kind of like the port-Rain Man obsession with idiot savants (they became the art-house equivalent of ninjas for a while, the answer to every problem, ascribe the solution to an “idiot savant”).

    I simply found it absurd that so many plots in the 80’s could center on mentally retarded adults, then forget for about half of the running time that the main attribute of mental retardation is an IQ below normal. They would recall whenever it was convenient, or moved the plot along, but otherwise they seemed to confuse retardation with palsy and a speech impediment.

  • A parody of such movies plays a big part in Tropic Thunder. Originally, I guess, it (the movie in the movie) was called something like “Retard Jack,” but they pulled it back a little before release. Same general idea, though.

  • Joe11

    I never heard that the original name for the “I Am Sam/Rain Man” spoof in Tropic Thunder was going to be “Retard Jack”. Their final choice “Simple Jack” has a better ring to it anyway.

  • Blackadder

    “It seems to me that you guys don’t want it to happen REGARDLESS of who plays the 3 stooges, as the stooges can’t be copied.”

    True that. The casting just adds insult to injury.

    The Three Stooges were unique individuals (albeit there were actually more than three of them) – not characters that can be played by anyone else. Making a movie like this is a senseless exercise.

  • Marsden

    “It seems to me that you guys don’t want it to happen REGARDLESS of who plays the 3 stooges, as the stooges can’t be copied.”

    I have an idea, if they’re really bent on making a 3 stooges movie, why not use the Wayans brothers? They’re funny, they can interact, I think they could do it. They could even keep Jim Carey, as he’s worked with them before.

    Don’t hate me. Numbskull.