Dumb And Dumber To - Movie Review
Rating: 2 out of 5
Be warned: this is a movie meant only for hardcore fans of the 1994 original, and other moronic comedies in which plot, character and filmmaking coherence aren't important. If any fart joke makes you laugh, don't miss it. Everyone else probably already knows that they should avoid this movie, which is even more idiotic than it looks. Although for those forced to suffer through it, there's at least a strand of witty, absurd comedy faintly running through each scene.
After an utterly pointless 20-year practical joke, old buddies Harry and Lloyd (Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey) are once again a team, causing chaos everywhere they go due to their inability to understand pretty much anything that's happening around them. Now Harry needs a kidney transplant, just as he discovers that he fathered a child with Fraida (Kathleen Turner) nearly 23 years ago. So he and Lloyd head off to find his daughter Fanny (Rachel Melvin). She has been raised by a Nobel-winning scientist (Steve Tom) and his money-grabbing wife (Laurie Holden), who's plotting with the handyman (Rob Riggle) to steal his millions. All of them converge on an inventors' convention in El Paso, where Harry is mistaken as a genius, Lloyd falls in love with the wrong woman and everything climaxes in a vortex of mistaken identity and wacky slapstick.
While absolutely everything about this film is painfully stupid, filmmakers Peter and Bobby Farrelly have learned from making solid comedies (like There's Something About Mary and Stuck on You), and the script has an underlying wit to it that hints at a much better movie screaming to get out. But the Farrellys simply leave everything as mindless as possible, using a strangely clunky directing style that feels cheap and underplanned. While there's a steady stream of amusing throwaway gags, the plot and characters never develop into anything engaging, mainly because both Carrey and Daniels are encouraged to overplay every moment so badly that we begin to wonder how anyone could think this was even vaguely funny.
Everyone around them plays it relatively straight, staring gob-smacked at Carrey and Daniels' gurning, overwrought performances as if they're wondering how this could possibly work. And why they agreed to be in this mess. Then just when all hope is gone, something actually funny pops up where we least expect it, eliciting a stifled laugh. The plot may be blatantly predictable, the characters mere cardboard cutouts and the jokes obvious and inane, but it's all so breathtakingly stupid that it'll probably be a huge hit.
Dumb and Dumber To Trailer
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Facts and Figures
Year: 2014
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 109 mins
In Theaters: Friday 14th November 2014
Box Office USA: $57.7M
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Production compaines: Warner Bros. Pictures, Conundrum Entertainment, New Line Cinema
Reviews
Contactmusic.com: 2 / 5
Rotten Tomatoes: 25%
Fresh: 26 Rotten: 78
IMDB: 6.9 / 10
Cast & Crew
Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Producer: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland, Bradley Thomas, Charles B. Wessler
Screenwriter: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Sean Anders, Mike Cerrone, John Morris, Bennett Yellin
Starring: Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas, Jeff Daniels as Harry Dunne, Rachel Melvin as Penny, Kathleen Turner as Fraida, Brady Bluhm as Billy, Laurie Holden as Adele, Steve Tom as Dr. Pinchelow, Rob Riggle as Travis / Captain Lippincott, Don Lake as Dr. Meldman, Patricia French as Ms. Sourpuss, Gregory Fears as Man at Gas Station, Tembi Locke as Dr. Walcott, Paul Blackthorne as Dr. Meldman, Eddie Shin as Gordy, Atkins Estimonds as Gus, Tommy Snider as Tom, Lindsay Ayliffe as Professor Garabedian, Matthew Cardarople as Inventor No. 1, Bill Murray as Ice Pick, Grant James as Mr. Stainer, Taylor St. Clair as Mrs. Steiner, Erin Allin O'Reilly as Asylum Nurse No. 1, Tim Campione as Conference Attendee, Jennifer Cocker as Young Inventor, Derrick Dean as Hospital Visitor, Garret H. Dumas as Conference Patron, Shelton Foreman as Patron, Jeff Matthew Glover as Orderly, William Goodrum as Prom Singer, Walter Hendrix III as Street Patron, Lauren Henneberg as Upscale Guest, Michael Jaegers as Computer Convention Attendee, Angela Kerecz as Waitress, Aaron Kischnick as Ken Philanthropist, Rob Koebel as Officer Stone, Taylor McPherson as Electronic Convention Attendee, David Pascua as Mariachi Trumpet Player, William R. Phillips as Waiter, Josh Turner as KEN Convention Employee, Stefan Walker Armstrong as Audience Member, Walt Arnett as KEN Audience Member, Paul Bednarz as KEN Convention Employee, Erika Bierman as Fanny at Age 13, Derek Blankenship as Store Clerk, Kassidy Claire as Fanny at Age 5, Jesse Clark as Club-Goer, Carly Craig as Young Fraida, Bryan Dilbeck as DR Dilbeck, Joe Foley as EMT, Abigail Gamache as Prom Attendee, Dalton E. Gray as Young Harry, Llauryn P. Hendrix as Conference Patron, Ron Hudson as Club Patron, Kathlene Huslin as KEN Vendor, Erick Reihs Jackson as Gas Station Patron, Darien Johnson as KEN Convention Attendee, Jeffrey Karantza as Doctor, Debi Kimsey as Knitting Lady on porch, Anthony R. McClara as Security Guard, Michael McCrudden as Audience Member, Richard Melton as Chaperone, Maia Moss-Fife as Receptionist, Ryan Nesset as Pedestrian, Orbert Rogers as Park Patron, Sade Shearer as Prom Attendee, Dereck Smith as Convention Center Nerd, Jeff Sumner as Convention Official, Dave Walpole as KEN Converence Attendee, Dave Walpole as KEN Conference Attendee, Christina Michelle Williams as KEN Convention Employee, Brett Wyman as Inventor No. 2, Bennett Wayne Dean Sr. as Hospital Visitor, Doris Dean as Hospital Visitor, John Deifer as Mental patient, Jacklyn Edney as KEN Con Scientist, David Emmett as Hospital Visitor, Cody Mark Hanna as Audience Member, Billy Boy Johnson as Scientist, John Merical as Neighbor, Barbara Prince as Street Patron, June Shannon as Harry's Trailer Park Wife
Also starring: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland, Bradley Thomas, Mike Cerrone, John Morris, Bennett Yellin