farrelly brothers Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Peter and Bobby Farrelly's long-suffering project The Three Stooges has added and subtracted two more names to its cast, according to Boston.com, who caught up with Peter at a show at Fenway Park. Paul Giamatti, who can be seen on a limited number of arthouse screens in the wonderful new movie Cold Souls, will be taking on the role of Larry, the curly-haired comedian of the trio. (Oscar-winner Sean Penn ducked out of both The Three Stooges and Cartel earlier this summer.) Beleagured Wolf Man Benecio Del Toro is still on board to play slap-happy Moe, but Curly remains a mystery. According to Peter, who was trying to watch Paul McCartney while the reporter sussed out this info, the rumors that Jim Carrey will be playing the big-mouthed baldie are incorrect.

So who is willing to take the significant amount of Stooge abuse in the trio? Personally, I nominate Shia LaBeouf. Because someone needs a few noogies after Transformers 2.

If you're dying to participate in your own Stooge-y slapfight, you can download the iStooges app to your iPhone and n'yuck to your heart's delight. See a video demo after the jump.

Whenever you imagined a dream cast to play the Three Stooges in a movie, did you ever imagine an Academy Award-winning gay activist would be the first to sign? Sean Penn (?!) has agreed to play Larry in The Three Stooges, according to Variety, and Jim Carrey is negotiating for the part of Curly. Reportedly, Carrey is preparing to gain 40 pounds so he can play the role. And to play Moe? None other than Benicio Del Toro is being targeted by MGM and the Farrelly Brothers.

Jim Carrey would be a natural, of course, but Sean Penn? Does he have a funny bone in his body? His last attempt at a humorous role came in 1989's We're No Angels, a woefully unfunny film in which Penn was teamed with Robert DeNiro. Sure, he made his bones as the stoned surfer Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but it takes a real stretch of imagination to think he can play a Stooge. Stranger things have happened, though, and maybe Penn will pull a rabbit out of his ultra-serious persona and shock us all.

Del Toro doesn't have much of a comedy resume, either, though Variety's article claims he "showed comic chops" in Guy Ritchie's Snatch. Peter and Bobby Farrelly have written the script and will direct. The film is intended to be "not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts." Production is scheduled to begin in the fall for a 2010 release.

Am I underrating Sean Penn's comic abilities? Are you itching to see Penn, Carrey, and Del Toro as The Three Stooges?

Many people think that a movie needs to avoid an R-rating in order to become a blockbuster. Most recent top earners have followed that dictum, with only four R-rated movies among last year's top 25 at the box office. Zack Snyder's 300 was a defiant exception in 2007, earning more than $456 million worldwide, and clearing the way for Snyder's R-rated dream project, Watchmen. Its content advisory warns / promises: "Strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language." Can such an R-rated superhero movie become a blockbuster today, especially in the wake of PG-13 smashes like The Dark Knight and Iron Man?

If the history of the movies has taught us anything, it's that people will flock to see films that they really, really want to see, no matter the rating. As evidence, here are seven R-rated films with strong, adult content that may have made some folks blanch -- but it didn't keep the flicks from becoming blockbusters.

Basic Instinct
Paul Verhoeven's thriller has it all: sex, violence, profanity, and very adult themes. The most notorious shot features Sharon Stone's, er, legs, but the flick also includes male and female nudity, intense sex scenes, stabbing, blood spattering, dozens of profanities, and relentless sexual innuendos. But it's not just a sensationalist button-pusher. Indeed, Basic Instinct lives up to its title in its dogged, sometimes earnest exploration of the basest desires known to man or woman. It may have tittilated, but it also made you think long after the credits rolled.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I now present you with the most horrific rumor of the day -- that, according to those super sleuths over at In Touch magazine, Johnny Depp's name is at the top of the list to star in a new Three Stooges film directed by The Farrelly Brothers. And if that's not asinine enough for you, they also note that Sean Penn could join him. Yup. An "insider" says, "They want Johnny to play Moe and Sean Penn will be Larry -- they're still looking to cast Curly." OH, I have an idea for Curly -- how about Frank Langella ... while we're being absurd and unrealistic here.

I can't imagine there being any truth to this rumor -- although stranger things have happened, and Depp certainly knows how to play up the kooky, doofus roles (see: Pirates of the Caribbean). But Sean Penn? I'm sure he'd rather stab himself through the brain with a shotgun smeared in elephant dung ... unless he'd be doing this one "for his kids." This does bring up a good question for you folks, though: Who do you cast in the iconic roles of Moe, Larry and Curly in a 2009 Three Stooges flick? The easy answer, of course, is no one (as in leave the Three Stooges alone), but since they're obviously keen on bringing these characters back to the big screen, who could you see starring?

[via JustJared]

While you might think that the end of the Howard brothers would mean the end of the Three Stooges, Variety reports that Peter and Bobby Farrelly are bringing the Stooges to the new millennium. After years of trying at Warner Bros., the brothers turned to MGM -- a studio that has not only welcomed the idea, but also picked out a release date already. Should the film get cooking soon, Three Stooges will be released opposite Sherlock Holmes on November 20, 2009. They must really love the idea to pit it against Robert Downey Jr.

Me, however, I don't love it. I grew up on the Three Stooges; they were a mainstay of my house. You cannot have Larry, Moe, and Curly without Larry, Moe, and Curly. You can argue the finer points of Curly love, and whether any of his many replacements worked as well, but there's a reason that the trio ended with the deaths of Larry and Moe. Sure, Moe tried to replace Larry in 1975, but since he died a few months later, nothing came of it.

And the Howard brothers plus Mr. Fine aside, I can picture what a Farrelly version of the Stooges will be, and I don't like it. The REAL trio did hundreds of films, so check those out instead, like the clip above.

DVD releases are a little wacky and slow due to the holiday, so here's some nibbles from this week. Happy whatever-it-is-your-celebrating-or-not!

The Kingdom
Taking a cue from Babel, Peter Berg's The Kingdom details a deadly attack on American forces in Saudi Arabia that becomes an international news piece. However, unlike the other film, Berg's adds in the quest for retribution. While diplomats work slowly, an FBI special agent played by Jamie Foxx puts together a team to hunt down the man behind the attack. As our own James Rocchi described it: "if The Kingdom does offer bitter pills to swallow, it's also smart enough to offer a little action-flick sugar to help them go down." It's action also starring the likes of Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman, so it's hard to go wrong.

The DVD offers deleted scenes, a breakdown of "The Apartment Shootout" scene as well as another about "The Freeway Sequence," a making-of featurette, commentary, and even a history education piece. You can search a timeline of events to learn more about the issues through news stories and featurettes.

Check out James' Take and Ryan's Take | Buy the DVD


The Heartbreak Kid
I admit, this is a bit of Christmas charity since it's a slow week of releases. The Heartbreak Kid probably wouldn't have made the list otherwise, but Merry Christmas, Ben Stiller. Coming to us from the Farrelly Brothers, who have brought us the likes of Dumb & Dumber, There's Something About Mary, and Stuck on You, The Heartbreak Kid tells the case of really, really bad timing -- the tale of a man who falls for someone else during his honeymoon. On the one hand, you've got Malin Akerman (who will soon kick butt in Zach Snyder's Watchmen) playing the wife who reveals her rough spots after marrying ol' Ben. On the other, there's Michelle Monaghan, who plays Stiller's perfect girl.

Like any good comedy DVD, the extras include a gag real, as well as commentary, deleted scenes, "The Farrelly Brothers in the French Tradition," "Ben & Jerry," "Heartbreak Halloween," and an egg toss, just in case you needed some added action on the disc.

Check out James Rocchi's Review | Buy the DVD

Other New DVD Releases

The Brothers Solomon
Pan's Labyrinth -- Blu-ray or HD
Living & Dying
Lost and Found: The Harry Langdon Collection

Check out Peter Martin's Indies on DVD for even more new releases.

The comedy villain is one of the trickiest characters to pull off. Too often, the villain's scenes are there simply to further the "plot," which, in a lot of comedies, is pretty inconsequential. If a comedy even has a true villain, and many don't, scenes focusing on him or her usually drain the movie of life and make the audience eager to get back to the laughs. But a smart comedy creates a villain every bit as funny as the hero(es). Below are my favorite movie slimeballs, in order of release date. I'd love to hear some of yours.

John Vernon as Dean Vernon Wormer in National Lampoon's Animal House

One of the best traits for a comedy villain to have is that he or she is an "Enemy of Fun." You've met people like this. They hate fun. They hate people who have fun. Dean Wormer is a perfect example. In fact, unlike the other bad guys on this list, you can't imagine Wormer ever having had fun at any point in his life. Smileless, humorless, joyless...but hilarious. The crusty, bitter dean is almost a requirement for college movies, and you can feel Wormer's influence in every flick of its type released since. You certainly wouldn't have Dean Pritchard in Old School without Wormer. Animal House is a movie brimming over with jerks, Doug Neidermeyer would have made a perfectly good choice here, too -- frat guys always make great villains. But you've got to have some sympathy for that dude-- he got killed in Vietnam by his own troops.

Best Line: "The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me."

Ted Knight as Judge Smails in Caddyshack

Stopping just short of actually chewing on pieces of scenery, Knight's work in Caddyshack is a masterpiece of taking it over the top. A master of the slow burn, the man is made of simmering anger and rage. Knight more than holds his own against three incredible comedians: Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, and Chevy Chase in his prime. In a lesser movie, Judge Smails would be a generic authority figure, enabling the three comedy stars to do their riffs around him and act out against him. But Knight's Judge is a worthy opponent, and manages to grab just as many laughs as the goofballs. Every bit as influential as Dean Wormer, you can draw a straight line from Judge Smails to say, Shooter McGavin.

Best Line: "I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them."

Oh yeah, it appears those Farrelly Brothers are all over the place lately, recently signing on to direct a French remake called The Valet and now there's word the two will be reuniting with Ben Stiller hoping that there's something about the actor that will help produce at least one more successful film for the comedic duo ... if that's at all possible.

What? So sue me if Stuck on You and Fever Pitch's love letter to the Boston Red Sox (ahem, huge Yanks fan here) didn't exactly ignite my funny bone. I mean, we gave them Osmosis Jones and Shallow Hal, but c'mon -- there's only so much we can take. The pic, now titled Seven Day Itch, will be a loose remake of the 1972 Neil Simon penned, The Heartbreak Kid.

The film will follow a man (we're assuming Stiller) that marries who he thinks is the "perfect" woman, only to fall in love with someone else while on his honeymoon. Jason Bateman and Amy Poehler are also attached to star. Hmm, could this be the film that finally propels the Farrellys back amongst comedy's elite? Or was that torch passed long ago?