Movie casting decisions rarely make the news. Hollywood trade papers breathlessly report the shooting schedules of every major (and minor) star, but the general public only knows the details when the character being cast is either a real-life person, or a beloved fictional character from another medium. Remember the hullabaloo when Richard Gere was cast in Chicago? Christian Bale as Batman? Robert Pattinson as Twilight's Edward? Months before a foot of film would even be shot, some people were ready to decide that the project was a failure.

This week, everyone's abuzz over two high-profile casting announcements. First, Anne Hathaway was tapped to play Judy Garland in an upcoming biography, on the heels of her singin'/dancin' Oscars cameo. Then yesterday, an unexpected trio of names was released for the Farrelly Brothers (Dumb and Dumber) upcoming Three Stooges project: Jim Carrey as Curly (!), Sean Penn as Larry (!!) and Benicio Del Toro as Moe (?!?!).

Will either of the movies be any good? Will their respective stars be any good in them? Who knows? But seriously, it's time to stop freaking out over who's playing a part. The obsession with being first with any opinion has gone over the top, and not even affection for a biography's subject or a source material justifies blindly lashing out. If the guy who's cast as, oh, I don't know, let's say Annakin Skywalker, turns out to be a stiff, so be it. Just let the movie -- not the breaking news about who's in it, a year before it's finished -- be the story.