Dumb and Dumber To Review

Rated PG-13 (Crude and Sexual Humor, Partial Nudity, Language and Some Drug References)

Running Time: 1 Hour & 50 Minutes

Cast-

Jim Carrey-Lloyd Christmas

Jeff Daniels-Harry Dunne

Kathleen Turner-Fraida Felcher

Rachel Melvin-Penny Pinchelow

Laurie Holden-Adele Pinchelow

Rob Riggle-Travis/Captain Lippincott

Steve Tom-Dr. Pinchelow

Tembi Locke-Dr. Walcott

Don Lake-Dr. Meldmann

Brady Bluhm-Billy

Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly

Harry and Lloyd are back in "Dumb and Dumber To," but they've been turned into complete dicks by the writers.

Note: Screened on Thursday, October 30, 2014 at AMC Loews 34th Street 14..

'Kick his ass, Sea Bass!' "Dumb and Dumber" is one of the stupidest movies I've ever seen. It's also one of the funniest comedies of the last twenty years. Marking the directorial debuts of Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the film was released back in 1994, which was a banner year for Jim Carrey. Following the box office successes of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "The Mask," "Dumb and Dumber" capped off a fantastic year for the "In Living Color" veteran and grossed over $247.3 million worldwide ($397.2 million when adjusted for inflation) on a $17 million production budget! Despite its mixed reception amongst critics (65% on Rotten Tomatoes), the film quickly became a cult classic and you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't seen it nowadays. Its popularity spawned a short-lived animated series from Hanna-Barbera in 1995 and an absolutely dreadful prequel—"Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd"—in 2003. Carrey, co-star Jeff Daniels, and the Farrelly Brothers were fortunately not involved. Of course, fans kept clamoring for an official sequel, even though it didn't seem likely given Carrey's distaste for them following the critical drubbing he received for 1995's "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls." Well, a lot can change in two decades. Daniels is currently starring in the third and final season of Aaron Sorkin's critically-acclaimed HBO series "The Newsroom" but Carrey and the Farrelly Brothers have been stuck in a career slump in recent years. Hoping to make lightning strike twice, we finally have "Dumb and Dumber To," the long-awaited follow-up to the 1994 hit. While I knew it wasn't going to top the original, I was still excited to see what new misadventures Harry and Lloyd would get up to. I really wanted to like "Dumb and Dumber To" but there's no use mincing words here: it's a disappointment. The endearing stupidity and charming innocence of the first film has been replaced with a creepy, mean-spirited attitude.

Ever since his ill-fated road trip to Aspen, Colorado, Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) has been trapped in a seemingly catatonic state for the past twenty years. His best friend Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) has dutifully visited and taken care of his every need on a weekly basis but when Lloyd is suddenly roused from his stupor, he reveals that it's all been an elaborate prank. Finally reunited, the two dimwitted pals return to their old apartment, where Harry explains that he's in desperate need of a kidney transplant. While visiting his parents with Lloyd, he learns that a fling he had with Fraida Felcher (Kathleen Turner) back in 1991 has resulted in a pregnancy. After tracking down Fraida to her family-owned funeral parlor, the duo discover that she gave her daughter up for adoption. Now bearing the name of Penny Pinchelow (Rachel Melvin), Lloyd immediately becomes smitten with her upon seeing her photo. Driving down to Maryland, the two manage to locate the Pinchelow residence. However, her adopted father (Steve Tom) tells them that he sent her to El Paso, Texas for the KEN Conference. Unfortunately, she left behind an important package. Harry and Lloyd agree to take it to her but Penny's gold-digging adopted mother Adele (Laurie Holden) and her secret lover Travis (Rob Riggle) want to swipe the package as it contains an invention that is worth billions of dollars. 

There are laughs but they're few and far between in this long-awaited sequel.

'Would you like an atomic pepper, Mr. Mentalino?' One of my favorite scenes in "Dumb and Dumber" is when Harry and Lloyd are at a roadside diner and are double-dared into eating super-hot 'atomic' peppers by Mike Starr's Joe 'Mental' Mentalino, a hired thug posing as a hitchhiker. Of course, the two nitwits can't handle the heat and start choking loudly, forcing them to spray copious amounts of ketchup and mustard into their mouths. Mental goes outside while this happens, calling up his boss and assuring him that his new travel companions won't make it to Aspen alive. Hoping to get even with Mental, Harry and Lloyd dump a bunch of atomic peppers into the thug's burger when his back is turned. Now the guy doesn't immediately eat the burger when he returns to the table as the Farrelly Brothers want to build up to that moment. It's not enough for the joke to be funny; it needs to be well-timed as well. Once Mental takes that first bite and the peppers kick in, that's when the punchline arrives! For those of you who've seen the film, you know what happens next: Mental's stomach ulcer flares up and when the duo gives him his medication, they accidentally give him rat poison, the same rat poison the thug was going to kill them with! This hilarious scene illustrates two things. One: the Farrelly Brothers know how to execute a joke for maximum laughs, even one as predictable as someone unknowingly eating hot peppers, and two: although their actions lead to the death of Mental, you don't blame Harry and Lloyd because they had no malicious intent; they're essentially children trapped in adult bodies. These two elements are nowhere to be found in the sequel. Not only are the laughs few and far between in "Dumb and Dumber To," the characters—especially Lloyd—have been turned from dunces into total dicks.

A.A. Dowd from A.V. Club perfectly sums up the film in his own review: 'Dumb and Dumber To is crueler, crasser, grosser, lazier, creepier, and, yes, dumber than the [original].' Over the course of its overlong two-hour running time, Lloyd mocks and belittles a Chinese family for speaking a different language, tells another family that he was basically responsible for their son's death and laughs about it in front of them, makes fun of a female doctor solely because she is female, and shouts at a woman on stage to 'show her tits.' The last two is particularly damning considering the rampant misogyny and sexism that women have experienced recently on the internet. I haven't even touched on how creepy it is to watch a man in his early fifties lust after a woman who's twenty years his junior. The film tries to laugh it off but Lloyd is a sexual predator here, not a guy with a schoolboy crush like in the original pic. Although I spent an entire paragraph summarizing the sequel's plot, it essentially boils down to being a carbon-copy of its predecessor and the only surprising thing about it is the fact that it took six writers—including the Farrelly Brothers—to come up with it. Yes, "Dumb and Dumber To" required six people to write a story that is literally the exact same as the original. This means that there a lot of callbacks and references to the first film (Billy the Blind Kid, the Mutt Cutts van) but all it does is remind you how much funnier the 1994 hit was. There are some inspired gags, particularly one involving Harry and Lloyd's confusion over a return address and another where the two talk about farts. A scene where Harry is invited to judge a young inventors' competition at the KEN Conference is pretty funny as well. However, I can count on one hand the amount of times I laughed. Not only have the directors lost their comedic touch, they've also completely forgotten what made "Dumb and Dumber" so popular in the first place.

Nobody found it creepy that a subplot involves a man in his fifties lusting after a woman twenty years his junior? Nobody?!

Donning Lloyd's famous bowl haircut once more, Jim Carrey's comedic prowess is still in tip-top shape as he wildly bounces from scene to scene but he tries too hard here with his constant mugging in front of the camera. It doesn't help that his character has been turned into a complete jerk by the writers. Jeff Daniels fares much better, effortlessly sliding back into his old role as Harry and delivering an enthusiastic performance. While Kathleen Turner is unfortunately made the butt of too many 'old lady' jokes, it's mitigated by her amusingly blasé turn as former flame Fraida Felcher. Rachel Melvin is surprisingly charming, delightful, and dare I say, adorable, as Harry's long-lost daughter Penny Pinchelow, who's also dumb as a rock. I actually wouldn't mind a future "Dumb and Dumber" film focusing on Melvin's character. Rounding out the cast is Laurie Holden (who previously starred with Carrey in 2001's "The Majestic") as Penny's gold-digging adopted mother Adele and Rob Riggle in a dual role as Travis and his twin brother, the chameleon-like marine Captain Lippincott. There are also a couple of cameos, such as Bill Murray (I'm not going to spoil the scene he appears in but you can Google it if you must know) and inexplicably June Shannon, aka Mama June. I have to ask what possessed the Farrelly Brothers to include her. Hell, even TLC has cut ties with her and her family, and for good reason!

Released on November 14, 2014, "Dumb and Dumber To" has received largely negative reviews with 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics noted that the film 'does have its moments, but not enough of them—and the Farrelly Brothers' brand of humor is nowhere near as refreshingly transgressive as it once seemed.' It's still poised to do big business at the domestic box office this weekend despite the unfavorable critical reception, with the long-awaited sequel currently tracking for a $36 million debut. That's actually quite impressive considering the first film opened with only $16.4 million and is a testament to its continued popularity. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel for twenty years and now that one has arrived, I'm betting a lot of those fans wish they hadn't. Largely bereft of laughs, "Dumb and Dumber To" exists solely to cash in on the nostalgia of moviegoers, sullying the name of the original. Just pop a DVD or Blu-Ray copy of "Dumb and Dumber" and forget this one exists, like that horrible prequel.

Final Rating: 2 out of 5 (My love of the original kept the score from falling lower)

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