The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze

Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze, The (1963)

** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, Joe DeRita) play servants to the great-grandson of Phileas Fogg. Fogg the third (Jay Sheffield) is taken by a con man who says he won't be able to make it around the world in eighty days so Fogg takes the bet with the Stooges going along for the ride. This was the fifth feature film for the Stooges after regaining their popularity and sadly it's really not a very memorable one. It goes without saying but the film is spoofing the Jules Verne classic but it seems like the writers just thought that the Stooges spoofing it would be funny enough and it's not. The film contains a few nice laughs but the thing falls well short when it comes to big laughs. One of the running gags has Curly Joe going crazy when he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel" and fans of the group will remember this is something the original Curly did to perfection in some of their earliest Columbia shorts. The comic bit is decent here but it never gets a major laugh and when you see it you can't help but think back to when Curly was doing it and doing it much better. Another gag early on has the boys inside some large trunks, which of course get bumped and tossed around. The joke here doesn't work because it's obvious the Stooges aren't in any trunks and its even more obvious that the camera is doing the "twirls" that we're seeing. One funny gag that does work has the boys in China when three psychiatrists are trying to "work them over" but instead they come out acting as dumb as crazy as the Stooges in their original shorts. This bit actually has some good laughs in it and there's even a nice joke about the eye poking that this group of Stooges wouldn't do any more. Moe, Larry and DeRita are all in fine form but it's clear that age slowed the boys down. I know many fans can love all stages of the Stooges but I'm still in belief that their greatest days were their earlier ones and these here just don't have that same power. This film here will probably appeal to younger viewers because it is very child-like but I think most adults will still prefer the earlier shorts where the Stooges were at their prime.