Sweet and Hot

When I was about 9 years old, my folks left me and a friend at the theatre to see some or another kids' movie, and what pops up before the feature but "Hellooo, Hellooo, Hellooo… hello." The Three Stooges(!), singing, and in wide screen!

I was stunned. I'd figured the Stooges had died before my grandfather was born. With this perception in my mind, it seemed no wonder that there was no Curly. In fact, I had the impression I was not really watching a "Three Stooges" movie so much as some kind of playful little teaser with Moe and Larry and another funny guy name Joe. Moe and Larry certainly did not perform their usual roles, and Moe even had his hair slicked back. But that was no problem: he WAS Moe, and he WAS Larry, and the whole affair actually seemed like a logical "update" for these comedians. Like, they are still around but doing different things now..

Larry danced and jumped and moved about so lithely that it seemed impossible he was the same guy in the ancient 1930s movies we watched on TV. But there he was! And doing a wonderful comic dance. Joe, too, did a nice dance, and later Moe did a few steps. (Even later, Joe did a REAL nice tap number, BETTER than Curly, joined by Larry on the violin.)

But when the movie was over, I was disappointed. Not because I missed Curly, nor even because the Moe and Larry did not play The Stooges, but because the Grand Finale somehow never occurred. Logically, there should have been a memorable song-and-dance with Joe, Larry and Moe. And this absence of a musical climax, to this day is my main criticism of this film. (Although if I were using Final Cut on this thing, I'd cut out the entire "childhood-memory" section.)

As it was, I thought then (and still think) that "Sweet and Hot" came across as a cheery little film, with some good dancing and a few moments of modest slapstick. But it was not a good "story" movie, and it was missing that key element of really strong physical comedy we kids loved so much. Rather, this was just a very lively "guest appearance" for Moe and Larry, in a quickie film made to warm up an audience for the feature film, and offered as an amazing surprise to 9 year olds. As such, it succeeded.

The worst Three Stooges film of all time! There's so many things wrong with this film, it's almost impossible to list them all.

First off, the most important thing: Where the heck is Moe??? Sure, he's in the short, but not as his usual "Stooge" self at all. Instead, he plays a German psyciatrist, with glasses on, and his hair all combed back! Larry and Joe Besser work as a team, but Larry's hair isn't poofed up like it usually is and he doesn't do anything funny or Stooge-like at all here, and Besser's his usual annoying self. You can't break the Stooges up like this and have them appear as seperate characters! They've done this several times before and it never worked, but it really takes the cake here.

Secondly, there's no Three Stooges slapstick in this. A good majority of the film is taken up by long, boring musicals (musicals - never one of the Stooges' stronger themes, other than the classic MICRO-PHONIES), and the scene at the psyciatrists' office isn't funny at all.

And lastly, Muriel Landers, the lady playing Tiny is just annoying (like Besser - no surprise they played siblings in this), and her acting talents are so bad, it's very embarrasing. It's obvious this short was a vehicle for her so-called "singing" talents, but why waste the Stooges just for this lady's "talents"?

Like I said before, it's sad seeing comic geniuses like the Three Stooges relegated to a disaster like this. This is very embarrasing for a Three Stooges fan like me to watch, cause it ain't a pretty thing to watch. It just doesn't get any worse than this!

You kind of can see that the Stooges get old - so no pun intended. Yes everyone gets older (if they are lucky enough I reckon or whatever you would call it), but this is not just an appearance thing. The jokes seem to repeat themselves - where were you born? The answer to this question, the literal one that is, seems to be a go to joke ... one they used before (as I was made aware by watching some of the shorts the beloved group did).

It's still the Stooges, it still can be fun. Even if Moe now is not just Moe, but a doc ... who'd have thought right? Well don't think this will change much of course ...

I liked this short because the Stooges played separate roles and Muriel "Tiny" Landers was comical (like some over-sized women I know). Moe and Larry did not wear their vintage Stooge haircuts, which gave a different flavor to this short. I was surprised to see Joe do a tap dance (I did not know he had such a talent). Larry did play the violin (for real) like in other shorts. The music was swinging.

As a die-hard Stooges fan, Spike TV (and AMC) have not shown this short. There are a lot of shorts that have not been shown by these two networks. I was told that Columbia owns the "missing" shorts and have not released them to television. Joe was alright as a Stooge. They were getting too old to hit anyway. I did see Joe get some hits in his shorts (unless that was a stunt man).

The shorts the Stooges made toward the end of their careers were universally terrible. The budgets were slashed to almost the point of invisibility, and as a previous poster has said, the boys were old, tired and past their prime. This actually looks more like a "trial balloon," as it were, for the "talents" of one Muriel Landers, who plays Tiny. She is neither talented nor tiny. She is a short, heavyset woman who is given a number where she sings and dances and proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that she can do neither. Something else she can't do is act--there's one scene where she sticks her finger in her mouth and starts talking baby talk, which is embarrassing, uncomfortable and, frankly, creepy. Moe has his hair slicked back and plays (badly, to be honest) a German/Austrian/whatever psychiatrist. There are virtually no production values--the whole film looks like it was shot in a dark, ill-lit corner of the studio somewhere. There is not one even remotely funny line in this film--not ONE. Moe and Larry look like they're trying to give it their best, but they were either too old, too tired, too discouraged, or a combination of all three, and their best in this case wasn't even remotely good enough. This is a complete embarrassment, and if you love the Stooges as much as I and a lot of others do, spare yourself the sad spectacle of watching a comedy team that was once at the top reduced to participating in this sad excuse for a comedy in order to pay the rent. Watch some of their masterpieces from the '30s and '40s with Curley, or even some of the later ones with Shemp, but whatever you do, avoid this one like the plague. Remember the Stooges as they were in their prime, and not suffering the indignity of having to make this pathetic, embarrassing and, finally, sad mess.