I was wrong about The Three Stooges

Last updated 11:03 13/07/2012

Going to the movies is an act of hope.

Most people think film critics love to snipe from the shadows of the cinema aisle, but when the lights fade I have only one thought: 'Please be good. Please be good. Please be good'

Sadly, this is an act of hope and optimism that is often betrayed. All of which brings me to an apology. A while back I wrote a preview of the blockbuster season and picked out one film as a potential sleeper hit. On the strength of the trailer, I speculated that The Three Stooges could be funny.

Here's the trailer:

Well, the other night I went to review The Three Stooges. It was rubbish.

I'm sorry. I was misguided. I hoped teaming the Farrelly brothers, responsible for Kingpin and There's Something About Mary, with a slapstick icon could work.

But I was wrong. What you see in the trailer is all the funniest slapstick moments from 90 minutes of tedium cut together into about two minutes of joy. Sadly, two minutes of funny in 90 minutes of beige boredom does not make a great movie.

But the really surprising thing about The Three Stooges is not that it's rubbish, but that it is so inoffensive and bland. It feels like one of those family-friendly bland comedies that Disney churns out. Weirdly, it reminded me in tone of the recent live action adaptation of Marmaduke.

It was a disappointment. Especially since the Farrelly brothers have made me laugh in the cinema before. I hope they will again.

There's that word again. Hope. As a freelance film critic, I am often sent to review films that on paper sound like they will be an endurance test rather than entertainment. But I have found hope and cinematic joy in the strangest of places. I have found myself grinning along to High School Musical 3 and the Hannah Montana movie. Films, I can assure you, I would not ever go and see of my own accord.

But, every so often there are films so awful that you almost lose hope. Films like Big Stan and Jack and Jill.

I will not be beaten by the likes of Adam Sandler. I will greet each new movie with a wide open mind and a heart full of hope.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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