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| They're back! In Peter and Bobby Farrelly's Dumb and Dumber To |
20 years after the original Dumb and Dumber (1994), a modern comedy classic, its creators (and four (!) other writers) have summoned the two stars for another really dumb adventure:
Lloyd (Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)) has been in a mental institution for the last 20 years, where his pal Harry (Jeff Daniels (The Squid and the Whale (2005)) has taken care of him. - But it was all just an elaborate (and very lengthy) joke! Harry needs a new kidney, so when they learn that he has a daughter who has been given away for adoption, they head out to find her and get him one of her kidneys.
This loony plot doesn't really lead anywhere, although there is an amusing tail to the dedicated pointlessness at hand in Dumb and Dumber To. It takes quite a while before it really gets started, and then it's not an exciting plot in any way, more just an excuse for all the goofiness that ensues. A MacGuffin pack is introduced along with a slew of other more of less confusing ideas that are wrapped around a continuous row of gags, quite a few of them funny, if you just relax and get into the redonkulous mood of the film.
I saw it in a packed theater with lots of kids, who couldn't control themselves laughing at the hilarities of Harry and Lloyd. It raised the atmosphere (as kids' laughter tends to), even if I thought to myself that the kids might have exploded with laughter, if they had run the original film instead by mistake.
Carrey is giving it his all as usually, and as does Daniels, even though the years have obviously been rougher on him. He has really red eyes through much of the film, which got me speculating if he might be high while acting here. - It's hard to tell, because the characters are so idiotic in themselves, but I definitely wouldn't rule out the possibility.
The details:
The trailer for Dumb and Dumber To seemed to dispel the relative innocence of the original with a very vulgar humor replacing it. I was glad to find that that wasn't exactly the case. - Sure To is vulgar and coarse, but not overly so, I thought. Mostly it's just incredibly silly. Some of the funniest things in the film, I thought, are the fantasy scenes.
The film has Laurie Holden (The Mist (2007)) and a refreshing, self-mocking Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone (1984)) in supporting roles.
It has been slaughtered by most critics, but it is far from as bad as they say. Dumb and Dumber To is far from greatness, but it is a decent goofball comedy from the modern masters of that kind of comedy, brothers Peter & Bobby Farrelly (Kingpin (1996)).
Watch the trailer for the film here
Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 169.8 mil. $ and counting
= Box office success
[The success of this sequel was not at all a sure thing, the studios felt: Warner Bros. declined to make it, although they made heaps from the original. Independent company Red Granite finally financed it. And as it turned out, lots of people were ready to catch up with more Dumb and Dumber: Opening first in the US, the film was Carrey's biggest hit since Bruce Almighty (2003) and even bested the original. The film has done very well in many other countries as well.]
What do you think of Dumb and Dumber To?
What is the Farrelly Brothers' best film in your opinion and why?
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