My dad bought this years ago when I was just a kid. I remember watching it with him and remembered some key parts, but almost none of the plot. There's a reason for that: there's no real plot to remember.
Here's the basic plot. A life-long Stoogemaniac by the name of Howard F Howard (Stooge fans will get it) is trying to get married to his girlfriend. But the 3 Stooges are taking over his life as he sees their movies wherever he goes. He runs out during the wedding and goes to live on Stooge Alley: where all the Stoogemaniacs live. This is apparently a newly discovered affliction that causes you to whoop and holler while slapping your Stooge friends. The Stooge center comes ala the men in white coats and pick up the Stoogemaniacs. They put them through a deprogramming system to get them off the Stooges, but in the end it fails as the Stoogemaniacs declare their love in a giant free-for-all pie fight. The movie ends with Howard getting married, with his Stooge friends on hand.
That's literally the entire plot. Most of it is used as a set up to show clips from 3 or 4 public domain Stooge films. Frankly it would be a lot better and more enjoyable to just watch the films by themselves, as 99% of the stuff in between is unfunny garbage. Plus you wouldn't have to watch the same jokes repeated half a dozen different times in the same movie.
The acting sucks, as you would imagine. The only one that might even get a chuckle out of you is Sid Ceasar. But really, what is there to work with? The directing is simple, as it's only needed to set up the next Stooges clip. Two different scenes in two different buildings are shot in the same obviously refurnished room, and the hallway they had on set was used many different times. Probably the most notable things in the movie are the surprise appearances of James Avery (Uncle Phil on Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and Victoria Jackson (SNL). A somewhat skinny James Avery plays an orderly in the institute, and an even skinnier Victoria plays a nurse. She even gets to do one of her famous handstands during the pie fight.
Bottom line, this movie is bad. I know hardcore Stooge fans will probably want to see it, but all I can tell you is that it's not worth it. I just rewatched my dad's old copy for this review, and I've gotta say the only reason I'm not chucking/selling/burning it is because I have a feeling it's pretty hard to find. And with good reason.
