Forget about healthcare: The Supreme Court may yet face the defining constitutional issue of our day if one producer has his way. "You claim on behalf of your client, Will Ryder Productions, that the low-budget, clearly pornographic, film your client intends to sell by infringing upon The Three Stooges® Brand is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as 'parody,'" writes Robert Benjamin, the co-producer of the PG-rated Three Stooges currently in theaters, to the lawyer representing the geniuses behind Not the Three Stooges XXX. "Such a claim of parody has no merit." And there's related Stooges case history (PDF file)! Clear the docket! [TMZ]
This is getting a little ridiculous: The Hunger Games claimed its fourth straight weekend box-office win on Sunday, mopping the floor with weak-sauce competition including The Three Stooges, Cabin in the Woods, and a brutally performing Lockout. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
more »
What's Catholic League president Bill Donohue upset about today? Oh, the usual: "In the 1950s, Hollywood generally avoided crude fare and was respectful of religion. Today it specializes in crudity and trashes Christianity, especially Catholicism. Enter The Three Stooges. The movie is not just another remake: It is a cultural marker of sociological significance, and what it says about the way we've changed is not encouraging." A Fox spokesman responds: "I think we did the audience a favor by letting Kate Upton wear the nun-kini rather than Larry David — it could have gone either way." [THR]
Bobby and Peter Farrelly’s The Three Stooges is not particularly great, though it is possibly brilliant, a picture that goes beyond homage to become its own rambunctious invention — it’s one big eye-poke, with footnotes. Maybe the world doesn’t need a meticulously observed re-creation of the Three Stooges’ artistry, a brand of cartoonishly violent slapstick that for decades horrified moms and other upstanding individuals. Or maybe the world needs it now more than ever. Either way, the Farrellys’ reimagining of the Stooges ouvre — which includes a backstory set in an orphanage run by nuns — is packed with so much affection, and pays so much attention to detail, that I think it’s possible to love The Three Stooges even if you never loved the Three Stooges. The picture is confident in its ridiculousness — any movie that puts Larry David in a nun’s habit has to be.
more »
The Farrelly Brothers' Three Stooges flick is pratfalling into theaters Friday, so naturally stars Will Sasso, Sean Hayes, and Chris Diamantopolous bounced into the ring Monday night on WWE Raw to bring Stooge awareness to the world of wrestling. ENTV has all the choice details and footage from the historic meeting of WWE and Larry, Curly, and Moe -- for which Sasso-as-Curly donned full Hulkamania gear before getting chokeslammed by Kane. (Kane, my new hero!)
more »
If cynicism were music, The Three Stooges would be a big brass band: "We didn’t have a huge budget. I think Pauly wanted too much money which was too bad because he’s also from Rhode Island. There were budgetary issues, but we did get enough of them to make our point. The Jersey Shore cast is one of the things that puts The Three Stooges in the modern world. The movie’s an hour and a half long and we split the Stooges up, because we didn’t want them hitting each other the whole time. Moe gets a part on a reality show, and that changed over the years. Originally, it was Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, then The Hills. When it came time to make the movie, Jersey Shore was the biggest thing going and so we put him on that." [Deadline]
I can picture the lightbulb that went off the day someone in marketing came up with the idea of a viral goof on a medical ad for April 13's The Three Stooges: 'It's like a disease, only moviegoers won't want the cure!' Actually, I'd kill for an anti-"Stoogation" remedy that'd make the Farrelly Bros.' upcoming re-imagining seem remotely palatable. I'm hoping the entire campaign has simply misrepresented what will turn out to be the comic discovery of the year after this painfully nonsensical ad for "Stoogesta."
more »
"What you are about to witness are stunts performed by experienced professionals." So warns the new trailer for The Three Stooges, which is here to punish you with yet more inane, terrible-looking slapstick yuks. Indeed. Weep for the careers of the "professionals" prostrating themselves herein in the name of entertainment and watch the trailer, if you dare.
more »
Fox seems to think so: "Sean Hayes, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Will Sasso -- starring as Larry, Moe & Curly -- in the all new The Three Stooges movie from Twentieth Century Fox, will start the action by delivering the green flag at the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s most prestigious race, on Sunday, February 26th." [Press release]
There's something for everyone in the first trailer for The Three Stooges. Well, something for everyone who enjoys Sofia Vergara in tight sweaters, lobster-down-the-pants gags and Jersey Shore cameos. If any of those ideas interest you, click ahead to see the Farrelly brothers' take on modern-era Moe, Larry and Curly.
more »
