puffball97

Peter and Bobby Farrelly, after a long, dry spell, are back in comedic form again. For many years, their target audience was with adults with sarcastic, gross senses of humor, as demonstrated in their monster 1998 hit, "There's Something About Mary" that made a big star out of Cameron Diaz. Previously, there was 1994's big hit "Dumb and Dumber," which had many silly, sometimes tasteless, sight gags, and Jim Carrey was a star on the rise.

Now the Farrelly brothers have created a kiddie flick entitled "The Three Stooges." No, this is not a biography of the three slapstick comics from way back when, but what it would be like if the three comics were transported to modern times. The Farrellys have not let go of their trademark slapstick and gross-out humor, although it has been toned down for the youngsters. However, it is not altogether a kiddie flick, where there are scenes of extreme violence, a large black rat, and model Kate Upton as a nun in a revealing swimsuit, but most of all that is harmless.

The story begins in 1934 where three small boys wrapped in a blanket are thrown to the doorstep of an Atlanta orphanage. Already, they are hitting the nuns, each other, and everyone else. The funny thing about these boys is that they look exactly like what they would become as adults. Running the orphanage are the straight-arrow Mother Superior (Jane Lynch), the warm and fuzzy Sister Rosemary (Jennifer Hudson), and the ultra-tough Sister Mary-Mengele (Larry David in drag, and he hams it up with enthusiasm. In fact, David played Larry the Stooge recurrently on the 1980 comedy skit show, "Fridays.")

The boys eventually grow up into dark-haired Chris Diamontopoulos as Moe, Sean Hayes with frizzy hair as Larry, and beefy Will Sasso as Curly. The plot goes as their blond good friend, Ted (Kirby Heyborne), was lovingly adopted as a child, but later on, he faces trouble, as he learns his widowed father Mr. Harter (Stephen Collins) is a shady lawyer having an affair with his alluringly conniving wife, Lydia (the sexy and curvaceous Sofia Vergara, parodying the femme fatale character). Mr. Harter, Lydia, and a goon (an oily Chris Bierko, who gets his when you look at his face near the end of the movie), are out to kill Ted for the money that his late Mom left him, and the Stooges unwittingly come to Ted's rescue. More mayhem, hits, and bruises.

Like Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey in "Dumb and Dumber," the Stooges are dumb lads with lots of heart, which is a typical plot device in many Farrelly Brothers mothers. The Stooges, employed as maintenance men in the orphanage they grew up in, learn that the orphanage is closing down due to economic circumstances (which definitely speaks of today's times), lose their jobs, and they will do anything to save it, which inevitably it happens, but not in their own hands. I'd have to say that brothers trying to get money for a closing orphanage was the same exact plot from the 1980's "The Blues Brothers."

The Farrelly Brothers also work well with anachronisms as Moe is accidentally hired on today's reality show, "Jersey Shore," and he seems to blend well with that cast, although they seem to find him a bit strange, and they act as though they don't want him there.

If anyone thinks that "The Three Stooges" is all violent slapstick, think again. The three plots of the murder, the closing of the orphanage, and the reality show, are all juxtaposed intelligently and coexist so well that it can make an adult think. The original Three Stooges were known for cartoonish violence, but the Farrellys take them to different levels. The Farrellys let the actors run and knock each other around, and the result is a literal bang-up job. At the end of the movie, the children applauded and so did their parents.

This movie works for me on a personal level because my sister-in-law and her three children were extras whose scene was they were onlooking one of the characters about to be run over by a bus. My mother and I went to see this with very low expectations, thinking this would be one of the stupidest movies all around, but we were both pleasantly surprised by our feelings as we walked out. Yes, there was violence, but the violence was good-natured. The Farrellys and the cast seem to have had a lot of fun doing this project, and I think that the Farrellys had the best fun since "There's Something About Mary." With "The Three Stooges," the Farrelly's used their best imagination, and everything just worked.

If you like something that's different in more ways than one for the holidays, where the movie has real plot and character development, and not standard cartoonish violence as in many of this season's holiday movies, then run, don't walk, to see "The Artist." The movie is headed by two international stars who should become well-known to American audiences - French actor Jean Dujardin as the hero George Valentin, and Argentinian actress Berenice Bejo as the ingenue Peppy Miller, along with the familiar faces of John Goodman as his usual cheerful self in the role of the egomaniacal studio head Al Zimmer, Penelope Ann Miller as Valentin's troubled wife, Doris, and James Cromwell as Valentin's faithful butler.

The message of "The Artist" is all about changes in our culture. Also, this movie, while maintaining its originality, pays homage to two of the greatest Hollywood movies ever made, "Singin' in the Rain," where Debbie Reynold's regular voice fit best for talkies as Jean Hagen's itty-bitty voice didn't, and fell for her co-star, Gene Kelly, and the storyline of "A Star is Born," where the heroine's celebrity rises and the hero's celebrity falls. For those who really think that "they don't make movies like the used to," then you see everything in "The Artist." It is much more than an all black and white silent movie. It is a tribute that makes the viewer think, feel, and yet enjoy its magical movie-making. It is funny, sometimes disturbing, intellectual, and the viewer leaves with good feeling and emotion. And that's what a great movie is all about.

The storyline goes that George Valentin is a hot 1920s silent movie hero who meets dancer Peppy Miller. He puts the beauty mark on her and then she is a star ingenue. However, Al Zimmer realistically announces to George that the movies are forever changing to sound, which is true in our culture, and George feels disheartened over his silent film celebrity status. Even more disheartening when Peppy's sound movie is a fit, George's last silent movie is a flop, and George's actress wife, Doris, deserts him. George moves into a small apartment with Clifton, and his Jack Russell Terrier, and still more desolation ensues. George drinks uncontrollably, attempts suicide twice, and the only people to save him are his smart and loyal dog who knows more danger signals than humans, and Peppy, who loves George unconditionally. The predictable but exhilarating ending is a real gem that not only makes the viewer feeling good, but thinking what will come next for years to come. And finally, George is back in form in the next status, which Peppy adapted to right away.

The last silent movie tribute was, well, Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie" back in 1976. Sorry, but audiences these days seem to be more interested in a thoughtful tribute than a mindless but still always hilarious and timeless parody by our spoofmeister Brooks. Thirty-five years later, we get the real treat for what the silents are all about. Call it artsy and all black and white, but "The Artist" is a thought-provoker that I would like to see nominated for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor Dujardin, and Best Actress Bejo. I'm not the best at handicapping Oscars, but it looks so far that this movie may win for all its artistic merits.

If you know your headlines about Bernie Madoff's Ponzi schemes and how he has ripped off numerous clients investing with him, then it helps more to enjoy "Tower Heist." Alan Alda plays the Madoff-based character, Arthur Shaw, a cunning, devious financial snake who lives in a luxurious apartment modeled on Trump Tower and in the same location of Columbus Circle, New York. Mocking Trump and Madoff is quite a doozy and a daily double for Alda. Shaw has stolen millions of dollars from many of his employees, stored it in his red Ferrari once owned by Steve McQueen inside his living room, and now those employees want to rob him back.

Among the employees are Ben Stiller as Josh Kovacs, the manager of the building who organizes the revenge scam, and his accomplices are the bumbling bellhop Enrique (Michael Pena), a self-pitying evicted tenant and unemployed stockbroker named Fitzhugh (Matthew Broderick), the not-so-bright concierge Charlie and Josh's brother-in-law(Casey Affleck) who is about to become a father and worries about the future for his wife and upcoming child, the quick-witted housekeeper (Gabourey Sidibe, who became a major star after her Oscar nomination for "Precious," and wants to lend comedy a hand) whose father was a safecracker, and the wisecracking street hoodlum named Slide (Eddie Murphy, returning to his original smart-mouth acting form from the last 30 years) whom Josh knew as a child and is recruited by Josh and the gang.

The gang is ready to turn the tables on Shaw, and they end up finding the loot, along with a ledger inside the Ferrari. They dangle the Ferrari outside the apartment during a Thanksgiving parade, and are all arrested by the FBI. In exchange for the ledger, everyone else is set free, but Josh plea bargains and serves a two-year sentence.

The other cast members, in addition to the gang, are Tea Leoni as the pert FBI Agent Claire Denham in charge of the case who becomes Josh's apple of his eye, although the relationship is platonic, Judd Hirsch as Mr. Simon, the boss for Josh and the others who fires them after Josh admits that a retiring doorman named Lester attempted suicide after losing to Shaw right in front of Shaw, and Stephen McKinley Henderson as Lester, the would-be-suicide who has a few scenes laying in a hospital bed.

It is too bad that only get to see Eddie Murphy in the second hour of the movie, but it is refreshing to see him return to young form. Ben Stiller is less frenetic than usual, but he gets to chew scenery as he usually does. The real star of the movie is Alan Alda, who can skewer and parody Madoff mercilessly and give Madoff the due he deserves. The supporting cast is game, but the strongest performance is by Gabby Sidibe, the safecracking expert who shows she can do comedy. The self-pitying performances of Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, and Michael Pena wore thin, but Sidibe shows all her confidence in her part, which makes her the best vengeful crook.

Now this movie may not make history or have that much bit, but it is an amiable crime caper that kept me amused. Some people may find people like Stiller and Murphy repeating themselves in a "greatest hits" sort of performances. I felt that somewhat. As I said before, Alda and Sidibe had the best performances of all. And to fully understand the movie, you have to know the headlines or you can be lost. There is a lot of detail to the movie which tries to make it interesting, and some of the details are a bit too much.

"Tower Heist" is entertaining and informative in its way. It's not perfect but it's enjoyable. It's well worth your money.