The Three Stooges

Directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly

(PG)

**

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How you feel about the original Three Stooges will likely dictate how you respond to this “ingenious” homage, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. Those who view Moe, Larry, and Curly “with eye-rolling contempt” won’t notice its charms. But fans who believe that the lowbrow comedy trio elevated “slapping, bashing, and humiliating” into an art form will find it “an enchantingly well-done tribute,” freshened just enough by the Farrelly brothers, of Dumb and Dumber fame. As the Stooges become involved in a present-day murder plot, the relatively unknown lead actors “play dumb very well,” said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. Will Sasso “beautifully captures Curly’s facial contortions and vocalizations,” as well as his “delicate physicality.” But “absurdly brutal slapstick” is “a tough thing to sustain across a feature,” said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. The Farrellys add a vein of sentimentality that “feels at odds” with all the “wrench-conks and hot irons to the chest.” This Stooges “has its moments,” but it never becomes much more than a “cover-band project.”