For years, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, better known as The Farrelly Brothers, the filmmakers who brought us the modern comedy classics There’s Something About Mary and Dumb & Dumber, have been working on a Three Stooges movie. For much of that time, most observers assumed that the film would be a biopic which explored the careers of the comedic trio who lived to slap one another. This line of thinking was perpetuated due to some of the actors who were once attached to the movie, including Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Jim Carrey. But, those actors would eventually depart the project and we learned that the Farrellys were planning on simply making updated version of the famous “The Three Stooges” shorts, with a far less star-studded cast. Did this gamble pay off?

The Three Stooges opens in an orphanage, where three babies are left (thrown) on the doorstep and taken in by Mother Superior (Jane Lynch). As the years go by, the three boys -- Moe, Larry, and Curly -- become mischievous terrors and they are hidden away when families come to adopt. Even an attempt to have them adopted backfires when Moe refuses to leave without his brothers. So, many years go by, and Moe (Chris Diamantopoulos), Larry (Sean Hayes) and Curly (Will Sasso) grow into men, but they still live at the orphanage, where they botch odd jobs. Monsignor Ratliffe (Brian Doyle-Murray) visits and explains that the orphanage must be closed due to budgetary issues. The brothers decide that they will go out into the world and get the money, despite the fact that they've never left the orphanage. Arriving in the big city, they meet Lydia (Sofia Vergara) who explains that she will pay the stooges to kill her terminally ill husband. The guys accept the job and find themselves involved in a plot of deceit. Things only get stranger when Moe finds himself on a reality show. Can these numbskulls save the orphanage.

While watching The Three Stooges, it's nearly impossible to not imagine what if -- What if Penn, Del Toro, and Carrey had been in the film? Would it have had a somewhat darker tone? What if this had been a biopic? Would it have told us things which we didn't know about the Stooges? Well, you're probably better off staying inside of your imagination because here in reality, The Three Stooges isn't a very good movie.

If I had to use one word to describe The Three Stooges, it would be "lazy", which makes one wonder how this movie evolved from years and years of planning. The Farrellys wanted to stay true to the Stooges form of comedy and they've done so, which means that we get jokes which felt stale 50 years ago. The plot has the audacity to trot out the "we've got to raise money to save the orphanage" idea -- which should have been made off-limits following The Blues Brothers -- and then adds insult to injury by bringing in the storyline from Fletch. The Moe, Larry, and Curly which we get here are just like the ones from yesteryear and nothing has been done to expand the characters. Some would say that this is a good thing, but the movie needs some kind of depth.

And then we have the physical comedy. When one thinks of The Three Stooges, they picture slaps, punches, and, of course, the eye poke. We get plenty of that here...in fact, we get way too much. The guys are constantly hitting one another, without provocation. In the old shorts, the comedic violence was usually done as a way to make a point or to assert dominance, but here, it just happens for no reason. The slaps have always been the Stooges' defining characteristic and the bone of contention when people would discuss whether or not The Three Stooges were funny. I can tell you that the abuse doesn't deliver any laughs here.

As for the casting, the actors are good, but not great. One has to wonder what attracted Emmy-winner Sean Hayes to something like this. Will Sasso has always looked like Curly, and this is no stretch for him, as he played a very similar character in Drop Dead Gorgeous. Chris Diamantopoulos, who plays a lothario on Up All Night, is good as Moe, but he doesn't command the screen. In the end, the best performance comes from Larry David, who plays a nun.

I still think that the idea of a Three Stooges movie is a good one...just that this movie. Let's put it this way, if you were to describe this movie to people, it wouldn't sound very appealing -- Three actors you may have heard of play The Three Stooges and in order to save their orphanage, they run into that woman from Modern Family and then the cast of Jersey Shore shows up. Does that sound good to you? The movie has been billed as a family film, and while this is true in the sense that there's no profanity and only a few suggestive moments, my kids walked out after the first few minutes. I'm glad that The Farrelly Brothers finally got to make their dream project. I'd be dreaming if I thought that they could make a movie as good as There's Something About Mary again.

The Three Stooges nyuck-nyuck-nyucks onto Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 30 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no distracting grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good, as this is a very vibrant movie, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is good, and the depth is noticeably good, as the actors are distinctly separate from the backgrounds. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Every smack comes through loud and clear here, and the destruction brought by the Stooges fills the surround sound speakers and gets the subwoofer involved. The stereo effects are nicely detailed and the surround effects never overpower the dialogue.

The Three Stooges Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. The Disc offers eight DELETED/EXTENDED SCENES which run about 9 minutes. The majority of these are simply scenes from the film with a few seconds of additional footage. “What’s the Big Idea?: A History of The Three Stooges” (11 minutes) takes a fairly honest (for a featurette) look at the motivation behind the making of the movie and how it is meant to honor the original Stooges. The Farrelly’s, along with the great grand-daughter of Moe, talk about the movie. We also get an overview of the Stooges’ career, complete with plenty of clips from the original shorts, and the Farrellys talk about how the Stooges influenced them. “Knuckleheads: Behind the Scenes of The Three Stooges” (5 minutes) has the directors talking about the stunts and the challenges of making such a physical film. We learn how properly placed audio adds to the movie and the slaps in “Did You Hear That? The Three Stooges Sound Effects” (4 minutes). “Poifect! Casting The Three Stooges” (9 minutes) shows has easily Hayes, Sasso, and Diamantopoulos fit into their roles. “The Three Stooges Mash-up” (3 minutes) is simply a reel of goofy moments from the movie. “Original Screen Test” (4 minutes) shows the actors trying on the roles. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.