Three Stooges Trailer Inspires Indifference

I'm on the record as highly skeptical of the Farrelly Brother's new Three Stooges movie, but deep down I really do want this movie to work on some level.  At the very least, I expect high levels of cartoon-style violence, and that's usually good for a few guffaws.  Now we've got our first look at the Stooges in action:

Honestly, I'm finding it hard to summon up a lot of emotion one way or another. It certainly looks like a Three Stooges movie, full of abusive hijinks straight out of the original shorts.  And while the dialogue might feel a bit odd, it also feels authentic to the source material, (especially stuff like the iPhone gag.)  Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sassso all deserve kudos for the tremendous vocal work here, particularly Diamantopoulos's Moe.  You could blindfold me and I would swear that was actually Moe Howard risen from the grave saying "Mind your P's and Q's!"  Hayes is a little more trim than the original Larry, but what are you gonna do?

There really isn't much here that fills me with either excitement or dread.  It just sort of...exists.  Knowing the Farrelly's as I do, I'm sure they've saved the best bits for the theater, although it should be noted that the undeniable low point here is the appearance of the Jersey Shore cast.  Then again, Jersey Shore is really the low point of the human race as a whole, so that's par for the course.  Still, an entire segment about the Stooges as reality TV stars just might drive me over the edge.

While I commend the decision to go with three shorts instead of a feature length story, I can't help but wonder if the Stooges are just too out of place in the modern world.  I would have liked seeing them in a period piece, where the boys are house painters, plumbers, treasure seekers or something of that ilk.  The funniest Stooges routines were always when they had some very simple profession that required them to use heavy metal tools and inevitably led to inadvertent mayhem.  Such adventures seem a bit far-fetched in today's world of plastic and miniaturized electronics.  We'll find out on April 13th.

I still mourn for the version of this movie that would have starred Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn and an actually fat Jim Carrey.