It’s unclear whether a Three Stooges biopic was ever a really good idea. The trio are the icons you don’t go messing around with (like in twenty years when a Monty Python biopic starts circling around) because it’s tough to get people to play geniuses. Even when you get insanely lucky with casting (like Jamal Woolard as Notorious B.I.G.), the result can still be a fairly average movie.
So why try it?
That’s a great question, but apparently it’s something that The Farrelly Brothers have to get out of their system. Unfortunately, we’ve seen in real time how difficult it can be to get a movie off the ground and what happens when you’re not quite sticking the landing.
At one point, this film saw Jim Carrey, Benecio Del Toro, and Sean Penn attached – and that, absolutely, would have made for an interesting film. Maybe not a good one, but it would have been a train ride and/or wreck to remember. Now, the casting has been reduced to minor television stars. That’s not a pejorative at all. Television acting is difficult, but it’s not the same kind of acting that a film requires.
In terms of sheer talent, it seems like the B team has been called off the benches. Will Sasso is already locked as Curly, and now Variety is reporting that Sean Hayes (from Will and Grace) will be playing Larry. This project was always a head-scratcher, but now it looks like compromise is going to kill it.
