Brain Donors

Executive producers David and Jerry -- The Brothers Zucker -- best known for the Airplane! and Naked Gun sequels, veer away from their usual venue of biting satire in an attempt to recapture the long-lost energy of anarchistic comedy a la the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers (even though the film proclaims to be “in the tradition of Abbott and Costello,” there is more of A Day at the Races/A Night at the Opera essence at work here than a hint of Bud and Lou). These are big shoes to fill and try as it may, Brain Donors tries too hard to do just that. Yes, there are sight gags and one-liners aplenty in this get-rich-quick farce where Turturro (Barton Fink) -- a Grouchoesque, ambulance-chasing lawyer -- and his motley sidekicks, Nelson and Smith, crash the status quo of the elite and finagle their way into managing a ballet company. But, it is all too apparent that the constant barrage of zaniness is only a thin veneer for an underlying sense of desperation which begs the viewer to love and accept these guys as the heirs to the throne of Moe, Larry, Curly, et al. Going for broke with elaborate, cutesy Claymation sequences during the opening credits, we are baited to fall for the team of Turturro-Nelson-Smith as the lovable clowns of our dreams and by the film's conclusion, there is still more cuteness to suggest, “Did somebody say sequel?” Unfortunately, there is more chemistry in the Claymation mix than in the 80-minute void sandwiched in-between, and this is where Brain Donors skids on the banana peel because there is no genuine sense of comedic camaraderie present in this trio. While the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers had the unique, smooth-as-silk timing and chemistry which can only be perfected through years of intimacy, Turturro-Nelson-Smith come across as nothing more than three strangers with an out of synch, watered-down routine that flounders as a pale imitation of their hallowed predecessors. The result is that it becomes difficult to feel any warmth towards these guys, nor do they remain memorable five minutes after you have departed the theatre. The Zucker Brothers are at their best when they stay within their territory of disaster and police parodies, and they shouldn't meddle with the solid, one-of-a-kind traditions put forth by the legends of anarchistic comedy because -- Dave and Jerry -- it already works and it doesn't need fixing.