Directors: Bobby & Peter Farrelly Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels Screenwriters: Sean Anders, Mike Cerrone, Bobby & Peter Farrelly, John Morris, Bennett Yellin | 1.5/5 Dumb & Dumber To When I walked out of Dumb & Dumber To, which is first and foremost a terrible movie, I did not feel angry that the Farrelly brothers wasted my time or suffocated me with bad jokes. They did both of those things, but what I felt most of all was sadness. 1994’s original Dumb & Dumber is a comedy classic in my book; I have fond memories growing up with it and it still makes me laugh to this day. So, to watch that film’s legacy be smeared through a slop of disgusting and flat-footed laughs is saddening if nothing else. It is also lazy. If you find yourself occasionally laughing throughout the film, which will happen, it is probably because you have laughed at the same jokes before about, say, twenty years ago. Likewise, the plot is a direct rehash. We take a road trip across the country to deliver a mystery package - and find a girl Lloyd (Jim Carrey) is crushing on. Somewhere along the way, Lloyd and Harry (Jeff Daniels) tick off some dangerous people and end up giving a ride to a hit-man (and then pranking/killing him). Twenty years! That’s how long the Farrelly’s had to come up with an original story. Would it really have been that hard to make up another plot? I would spend two times over to visit more with these characters, but I do not want to pay my money to see the same movie. What did they spend their time doing? It definitely was not spent on jokes. You want to know the most pitiful fact of all? It took six people to write this screenplay. Six! That equals up to about a joke per person. And it was not just the jokes that made the original film such a winner. Yes, the comedy accounted for about 90% of it, but the movie had a beating, human heart. Lloyd’s “I’m sick and tired of being a nobody” speech was real. After a short pause, he continues with “but most of all, I’m sick and tired of having nobody.” You felt for this guy and you wanted him to come out on top and get the girl. You feel no such feelings in this sequel. As was expected, the only thing halfway enjoyable about D&D2 was being able to spend a little more time with these two complete idiots. I will admit, I enjoyed catching up with Carrey’s Lloyd Christmas much better than I did Daniels’ Harry Dunne. In the time since the first film, Carrey has only perfected his rubber-faced, full-body humor. One could say that he has played a variation of this character ever since. Whatever the case may be, Carrey wears Lloyd like a second skin. He is truly the only reason to sit through this mess. Daniels, on the other hand, has spent his time off digging into more dramatic roles, from Good Night, and Good Luck. to Looper. His most recent work on Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama The Newsroom even won him a Golden Globe for his dramatic work. Point is, 2014 Daniels currently lives far from the baboonery of his Dumber character. Carrey is an over-the-top guy, but watching Daniels jump back into this role was sometimes painful. Overacting would be putting it lightly. The biggest upset of all was watching the end credits, which spliced scenes from the new movie with clips from the original. It is a final smack to the face of all of us who admired the first movie to even associate these two movies. In a desperate final grab for laughs, it is as if the Farrelly brothers are saying "We know this movie is crap, but remember when we did that one movie that you liked so much?" I was told if I went into the movie with impossibly low expectations, I might actually enjoy myself. Let me tell you, I only did one of those things. Here is a hint: it was not the enjoying myself part. |
2 Comments
Micah Mills
11/19/2014 05:13:25 am
I think if D&D2 lacks anything, and it lacks a lot, it lacks "heart."Even when Lloyd finds out the potential of Harry's death and that the daughter is not actually Harry's, he's not even saddened about it. Just another joke. The movie had so much potential. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as the original, but dang, they didn't even try.
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Alyssa Ashley
11/19/2014 10:18:33 am
They had 20 years and it still wasn't any good!? I'm glad I skipped this one!
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