Although they never quite hit the big time quite like their contemporaries Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello, The Three Stooges and their style of aggressive slapstick comedy have always had their fans.

Two of whom are the Farrelly brothers, who have been trying desperately for a number of years to get this film made. Now that they have, they should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

Having been dumped off in a bag some years ago, orphans Moe (Chris Diamantopoulos), Larry (Sean Hayes) and Curly (Will Sasso) find themselves working as handymen around the orphanage they grew up in as kids.

The current economic woes however have taken their toll on the Sisters of Mercy orphanage, and unless they can come up with $830,000, the orphanage will have to be sold, and all the children put into foster care.

Despite not having a peanut brain between the three of them, the well-meaning trio decide to venture out into the big wide world and raise the cash themselves, one way or another.

I know these are state of the art headphones, but they really pinch!

If the Farrelly brothers had as much affection for the original Stooges as they make out, then they really would have given this shallow effort the widest of berths.

The first hurdle, of transposing these three iconic characters into a modern day setting, they do pretty well with; although a little twee, the orphanage setting works well enough.

Their three main characters also stay true to the originals too, but possibly too close, as an hour and a half of face-slapping and eye-poking soon becomes tedious, even for a younger audience.

The biggest sin of all however is when they write in a storyline involving Moe taking part in a reality TV show – Jersey Shore at that – which signals the straw that breaks the camel's back. There's something truly vile and offensive about The Farrelly's associating true icons of the vaudeville age with some vomit-inducing low-lifes from MTV. Even if you look at it from a marketing point of view, it's a lose lose situation. Do they really think that fans of the Stooges really think that if Moe could meet anyone from 2012 it would be the cast of Jersey Shore?

The Farrelly's must have also thrown a lot of cash at Larry David, Jane Lynch, Sofia Vergara and Jennifer Hudson for their participation in the film, as they couldn't/shouldn't have done it for any other reason.

To add further insult to injury, there's the possibility of a sequel. If that's the case, the Farrelly's need some serious blows to the heads themselves, to make sure this never happens.