Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Instead of doing an authentic remake of the beloved 1930’s comedy hit, The Three Stooges, Hollywood has used the new version to promote its anti-religion ideology by mocking the Catholic Church.
Credit: Threestooges.com
The new PG-rated film, which was released this weekend by 20th Century Fox, opened in theaters across the U.S. on Friday, April 13. Commenting on the new film, Catholic League president Bill Donohue says that there was once a time when Hollywood was respectful of religion and avoided crudity in films, but it now specializes in being offensive and never misses an opportunity to trash religion.
“This movie is not just another remake: it is a cultural marker of sociological significance, and what it says about the way we’ve changed is not encouraging,” Donohue says.
“Yes, the slapstick is there, along with the groans, pokes, thumps, and the like. But the TV show never mocked nuns or showed infants urinating in the face of the Stooges. The film does.”
In the new version, the Stooges are depicted as seeking to raise money for their orphanage which is run by “habit-wearing stereotypical nuns,” Donohue describes. One of the nuns is play by swimsuit model Kate Upton who is shown wearing a “nun bikini” with a large rosary around her neck. Another nun, Sister Mary-Mengele, is named after the Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele, and is played by Seinfeld creator Larry David.
“In 2009, David proved what he thinks about Catholics when he was shown going to the bathroom in a Catholic home splattering urine on a picture of Jesus,” Donohue writes.
When David recently appeared on the Conan O’Brien show to plug the new movie, he said that after wearing a habit in the movie he now understand why nuns are “so mean.”
“You know, the outfits might have something to do with that,” he told O’Brien. “Forget about the fact that they never have sex. If you gave me a choice of no sex or having to wear that outfit the rest of my life, I would definitely take the no sex.”
Film creators Peter and Bobby Farrelly have been working on the movie since 1999 and critics such as Dennis Lim of The New York Times claim the two brothers “stove for absolute fidelity to the original.”
Millions of offended Catholics beg to differ.
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