Many film-makers build on modest debuts, gradually compiling a body of increasingly assured work.

Writer-directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly seem to have peaked with their third film, the riotous 1998 comedy There’s Something About Mary, and it’s largely been downhill ever since.

The run of poor form doesn’t change with The Three Stooges, a lacklustre revival of the slapstick and japes, which turned vaudeville trio Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine into household names in the 1930s and 1940s.
Leading men Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso and Sean Hayes certainly look and sound the part, but the Farrellys attempt to drag out the tomfoolery to an uncomfortable 91 minutes.