The Farrelly Brothers finally make THE THREE STOOGES

MGM has revived THE THREE STOOGES, the long gesturing comedy adaptation of the classic comedy sketch show to be directed by The Farrelly Brothers and with a now firm release date (just so MGM can convince you it's happening this time) of Nov. 20th 2009. The directing brothers tried for five years to make the movie at Warner Bros. from a script they co-wrote with Michael Cerrone, their partner on their 2000 Jim Carrey slapstick comedy ME, MYSELF & IRENE. The movie will be structured similarly to the shorts formula, as a feature storyline will run for around 30 minutes before the next one begins. The Nov. 20th date will put the movie head-to-head against another 20th Century classic character, SHERLOCK HOLMES, Guy Ritchie's adaptation with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, along with the animated PLANET 51.

"It€™s not a biopic. It takes place in present day, and they look, dress and sound exactly like the Stooges," Peter Farrelly told Daily Variety. "When the economy started turning, we felt like the world could use a Stooges slapfest. Bobby and I haven€™t done a real physical comedy in a while, and it€™s the most exciting thing we could think of now, to have people go to the movie, see some great slapstick fun family humor."

Though that's gonna be expensive slapstick, a $45 million budget has been put in place, presumably so they can secure the talents of their favourite player Ben Stiller, along with the Will Ferrell's and Owen Wilson's of this world. Though maybe not, as Peter Farrelly claims they will hold an American Idol style contest in three or four U.S. cities to find their Curly with the finals taking place in Los Angeles. They will also hold similar style contests to find original, funny but faithful STOOGES shorts...

"We know this is extremely difficult to pull off; we realize some Stooges fans will be upset no matter what we do," Farrelly said. "We love the Stooges and honor their memory, and we don€™t want them to disappear. We hope that next Thanksgiving, dads will introduce their kids to the Stooges and create a new generation of knuckleheads."

So from reading the article in Variety, it sounds like a tribute movie more than the biopic everyone expected. You can't deny their movies DUMB AND DUMBER and THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY certainly used influences from The Stooges... maybe they could pull this off after all, despite the fact they haven't made a good movie in years? Though I fully realise, I'm clutching at very thin straws here!