The Three Stooges

The brutish schtick got old a long time ago.

The architects behind There's Something About Mary and Kingpin make merry with the poking and thumping, but are ultimately far too fond of their comic heroes to make them or us truly squirm.

This could have been a truly awful summation of the work of such minor legends but it works surprisingly well.

It shows that what made the Stooges work all those years ago, though hardly in vogue, still works today.

The quicker it's forgotten, the better.

Quaint but exuberantly crafted.

Even with their tremendous efforts, this still felt like a really good Elvis impersonator. They look like Elvis. They sound like Elvis. They shake like Elvis. But they aren’t Elvis.

If this weren't a movie, the three stars would certainly make a striking Vegas show.

Should you see it? Why soitenly!

The Three Stooges does not suck. It's not great but it is amusing, oddly inoffensive-and sweet, something the original never tried to be.