The Three Stooges

[wp34]

My mom is a huge Stooges fan.  We reluctantly took her to see the new movie today.  I say reluctantly because from the trailer it didn't look very good but she really wanted to go.

I must say we were pleasantly surprised.  The whole family loved it.  I was almost in tears laughing at times.  It helped that the theater was half full and there were a lot of people laughing along. 

The Jersey Shore cameo concerned me but it worked very well the way they used it in the movie.  I read somewhere that the original script had The Real World and they had to update the script once the movie was finally made.

It helped that the Stooges are supposed to be idiots.  I can't stand it when they make a parody of an old show like was done with Starsky and Hutch, The Brady Bunch and Dukes of Hazzard.   

[Ginsu Victim]

I actually liked the way The Brady Bunch movie respected the material and poked fun at the same time.

[Hoopz]

I actually liked the way The Brady Bunch movie respected the material and poked fun at the same time.

I agree.  I caught a part of it again last week and enjoyed it.  I dont think its as much as a parody as just taking it a little further in the story than the series was.

The Stooges commercial looked bad so its good to hear it is better than expected.

[DaveMMR]

It helped that the Stooges are supposed to be idiots.  I can't stand it when they make a parody of an old show like was done with Starsky and Hutch, The Brady Bunch and Dukes of Hazzard.   

A lot of those "movies based on TV Shows" are usually mediocre to poor but the Brady Bunch Movies were brilliant in execution. They were clever affectionate parodies. It's when they try to play it straight (e.g. "Beverly Hillbillies") does it usually fall flat (I'll give an exception to the "Adams Family" films though).

Although, technically, "The Three Stooges" was not really a TV show - they were old theater shorts. 

I've heard a lot of good things too and although I may wait for the DVD, I'll definitely check it out.

[Howard_Casto]

I don't think that's it.  I think that you have to start with "theater worthy" franchises and most tv shows, particularly those in sitcom format, just aren't up to snuff. 

I personally liked the beverly Hillbillies, but I wasn't expectign it to be much more than a glorified "made for tv" movie.  Which is essentially what it was. 

Starsky and Hutch failed because Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller were in it together.  It's funny, they are competant actors apart, but you put them together....

The Addams Family took virtually nothing from the tv series, and in it's case I think that's a good thing.  Afterall, the Munsters is practically the same show and it's made for tv movies have always been just awful.

The brady bunch just didn't work for me.  It felt like the saturday night live (and other comedy troupes) parodies that were done years earlier.  I thought the approach was brilliant, and it was the best possible way to do it, but you can't polish a turd. 

The Dark Shadows film is going to be terrible.  From what my mom tells me, that show was like the 70's version of Heroes.... a little campy, but hugely popular.  I remember the failed reboot of the series in the 90's and thought it had a lot of potential... but NOT as a comedy.

I haven't seen the Stooges yet but I'm not suprised that it turned out well.  Physical comedy is pretty hard to screw up and the stooges are timeless.  I'll be saving it for a rainy day.  You've also got to remember that the stooges have been sitting on a shelf virtually untouched since the 30's and 40's.  You get a lot more creative leeway when you are dealing with an IP that is that old and unused. 

[Ginsu Victim]

Starsky and Hutch failed because Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller were in it together.  It's funny, they are competant actors apart, but you put them together....

Zoolander was good.

[lordnacho]

Meet the Parents was ok 

[Vigo]

The Addams Family took virtually nothing from the tv series, and in it's case I think that's a good thing.  Afterall, the Munsters is practically the same show and it's made for tv movies have always been just awful.

I would call it more of a total overhaul of the tone. The whole feel to the film was wildly different from the show. The characters themselves were pretty much the same. They acted the same way they would and for the most part got into the same antics. The only character they dramatically really changed was Uncle fester. They just removed the "3 stooges Curly" from Fester. I guess they also added more depth to Wednesday and Pugsley, and made Thing something more than a running gag. Well, If I was to vote for best movie based on an old corny TV show, the Addams Family would win hands down.

Interestingly, we will most likely be seeing the Munsters return for a third round; the 80's reboot wasn't their last 20 year nap. A reboot is in the works from the creater of Dead Like Me. I would probably give it a watch as long as they promise to never put Herman and Lily back in hot pink outfits.

[Howard_Casto]

The Addams Family took virtually nothing from the tv series, and in it's case I think that's a good thing.  Afterall, the Munsters is practically the same show and it's made for tv movies have always been just awful.

I would call it more of a total overhaul of the tone. The whole feel to the film was wildly different from the show. The characters themselves were pretty much the same. They acted the same way they would and for the most part got into the same antics. The only character they dramatically really changed was Uncle fester. They just removed the "3 stooges Curly" from Fester. I guess they also added more depth to Wednesday and Pugsley, and made Thing something more than a running gag. Well, If I was to vote for best movie based on an old corny TV show, the Addams Family would win hands down.

Interestingly, we will most likely be seeing the Munsters return for a third round; the 80's reboot wasn't their last 20 year nap. A reboot is in the works from the creater of Dead Like Me. I would probably give it a watch as long as they promise to never put Herman and Lily back in hot pink outfits.

So in other words they changed everything right?    Seriously though, superficially they were the same, I mean they looked the same, but with the exception of maybe Granny and Lurch every character's personality was changed... for the better imho.  Fester and Gomez were down-right goofy on the show and the kids were very cheery and "normal" despite their odd hobbies.  In the films they were just as screwed up mentally as they were in terms of their actions/hobbies.  With the exception of pugsley, but he was intentionally wrote that way, both on the show and the film. 

Dear god, I fear for the end times in regards to another Munsters reboot.   They've actually tried it a few more times since the 80's reboot (I don't know why it isn't in wikipedia).  I remember a halloween special that was made as late as around 2001... of course it was terrible and since it was only shown at halloween it's thankfully been purged from most people's memories. 

[SNAAKE]

I heard larry david is in it?? confirm/deny lol?

[wp34]

I heard larry david is in it?? confirm/deny lol?

He is and he is quite funny.  The gag is that he plays a nun but they don't do a whole lot to disguise the fact that it is Larry. They don't even hide the major man hair on his arms.

[shmokes]

There have been quite a few good movies based on TV shows, some of them REALLY good. One of them is in theaters right now: 21 Jump Street. There's also The Naked Gun, it seems like one of the X-Files movies might have been alright, Mission Impossible III (and according to critics IV, but I didn't like it), The Simpsons, The Fugitive, Dragnet, Southpark, The Untouchables, Serenity, Star Trek.

[Vigo]

True, although a lot of those movies you mentioned were done by the same people who did the actual TV show. There isn't a whole lot of reinventing going on. Some of them even felt like an hour and a half long episode.

I totally forgot about Dragnet though. It is probably one of the first attempts to make a parody movie out of serious, but dated show. And it was from back when Tom Hanks and Dan Akroyd were funny. It was awesome that they brought back Harry Morgan into the movie as well.

Mission Impossible was destroyed from the first film, and as long as the movies have Tom Cruise in them, I am not going to watch it, I might have been better if it didn't take on name, but it was a complete d-bag slap in the face to the original show and written only let Tom cruise prance around rather than pull from the show. Jim is the villian? I don't think they even gave him a good enough motive to turn evil after years of missions, yet he kills off his own team first 10 minutes. I can't even remember the plot of the 2nd one, and the 3rd one I didn't watch. I think they are on the 4th now.

[garnerb350]

Speaking of Munsters reboot... It going to be on NBC and it will be titled "Mockingbird Lane"

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/12/munsters-mockingbird-lane/

[shmokes]

Mission Impossible was destroyed from the first film . . .

My feelings about the first movie were identical to yours. It was like a betrayal. The second movie was just a generic crappy John Woo film. The third one was pretty damned good, though. Philip Seymore Hoffman made a great villain. The critics loved the fourth film, but I secretly believe they all wanted to love it because it was the live-action debut of Hollywood darling Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille). I thought the fourth one sucked, but compared to the first two it's a masterpiece.

[Dervacumen]

I saw The Three Stooges yesterday.  It was actually much better than I thought it would be based on how lame the commercials were.
I very rarely laugh out loud in movies, and this one had me going quiet a few times.  Starts a little slow and I was pretty scared especially since I had two 8 year olds with me and I didn't want to try to contain them for a good hour plus.  Once it got rolling, they ended up loving the flick.