I must be honest, this was not a film I was looking forward to. I hated the original Three Stooges so I was hardly keen on watching a 90-minute tribute act gurn their way through a terribly outdated routine whilst the fact the Farrelly brothers haven’t made a decent film in years was also a concern. Well even with rock bottom expectations the film still failed to deliver any sort of comedy. The plot follows Moe, Larry and Curly as they try and raise enough money to save their beloved orphanage from closure.

The film is excruciatingly unfunny with a series of drawn out and inept slapstick routines that quickly outstay their welcome. Perhaps part of the problem is that…

62/100

Expectations were low, as I never really went for the originals as a kid, but maybe I'd be more impressed today. An uncanny replication, if I can trust my memory, and where I once saw merely lowbrow antics I now revel in...well, yeah, lowbrow antics, but performed with expert vaudeville timing the likes of which is virtually never seen nowadays. Its biggest problem, predictably, is that it's just too long—the division of the feature-length narrative into three "shorts" ain't foolin' anybody, and this style of comedy trades so much in repetition that sustaining it for 90 minutes is near-impossible. Didn't help that the third act takes a detour into a reality show I've never seen, either. But all three…

Remember The New Adventures of Laurel and Hardy, where the duo fought a mummy and shared the screen with F. Murray Abraham? Of course you don't, and you probably won't be remembering this soon either. To give it credit, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos and Sean Hayes do fantastic impressions of the Stooges, but that's what they are, basically doing a tribute act. Separated at each act like a short film, it seems to be a concession to the fact that this feels like a small eternity if you're not 5 years old, as we go through an endless repetition of eye-pokes and slapping. But don't worry, we've updated it with the completely unwelcome addition of Jersey Shore and reality TV…

I have to preface this review by saying that The Three Stooges was a terrible, terrible film. The script was awful, the supporting cast did a really lousy job, and at times I shook my head vigorously to show my dissatisfaction. There’s even a large portion of the film that revolves around Moe being a cast member on The Jersey Shore. Good - now that that’s out of the way, I can talk about how much I loved this film.

Everything about Chris Diamantopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso’s portrayal of The Three Stooges felt authentic. Every scene they were in felt like The Three Stooges - down to the exact mannerisms and voices. It was just perfect. EVERYTHING else…