Why Punch Drunks is still the best Stooges short

Is it worth your time?

If you have any love for physical comedy, yes. It is pure, unfiltered lunacy. If you are the type who needs a plot that makes sense or doesn't find grown men hitting each other funny, keep moving.

There is something about the way Curly transforms when that violin starts playing. His eyes just go blank. It is honestly kind of terrifying in a cartoonish way.

Moe is at his most frantic here. Watching him try to manage Curly’s weird trigger is like watching someone try to handle a live grenade. He is just shouting, sweating, and trying to keep the violin playing without losing his mind.

The boxing scenes are a mess, but in a good way. The extras in the crowd look genuinely confused sometimes. I swear one guy in the third row is just trying to hide his smile.

Small details that stick

• The violin playing is so aggressively screechy. It makes my teeth hurt in the best way.
• Curly’s suit jacket looks like it was made for a giant.
• The way they just shove people out of the frame instead of using real transitions.

It’s not as polished as Hawthorne of the U.S.A., but that’s the point. It’s supposed to be rough around the edges. It’s slapstick, not a symphony.

I noticed that every time the song stops, Curly just immediately collapses into a pile of limbs. It never gets old. 🥊

Some people say this is just another loud short, but they are missing the timing. The timing is everything. If the music cut out a second earlier, the whole joke would die. It hangs there just long enough for you to realize the disaster is coming.

Honestly, I wish modern comedies took more risks like this. It is just silly. And sometimes, you really just need to watch a guy get bonked on the head to a nursery rhyme. 🎶

It is definitely not a movie you watch for the deep character arcs. It is a movie you watch when you are tired of everything else and just want to laugh at something stupid.