Dumb & Dumber To

Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Rachel Melvin, Steve Tom, Kathleen Turner, Bill Murray
Directed by: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) embark on a cross-country trip to meet up with Harry's long-lost daughter to convince her to give Harry a kidney.

Review:

Tim: Twenty long years after the original, we finally get a new Dumb & Dumber. I'm not sure if anyone had the highest expectations for this film. What promise the Farrelly Brothers had after their first directorial effort, it has been squandered and lost in the previous two decades with a series of lackluster comedies. I can't imagine anyone who expected this film to rival the greatness of the original, so it's not surprising that it doesn't even get close. Even still, I loved the opportunity to see Harry and Lloyd once again, and while not great, this movie did enough to keep me entertained. I might be slightly blinded by goodwill from the first movie, but I have fun with Dumb & Dumber To.

The most obvious thing about this movie is that unlike the first film, it's not consistently funny. It's much closer to the majority of comedies- a few hilarious moments separated by long stretches of lackluster jokes that either barely register or miss completely. There's no question that this movie made me laugh, the issue is that it didn't make me laugh nearly enough. Too many jokes fall flat. While there's a few strong moments, this movie has nothing to rival the instantly memorable quotes or scenes from the original. Yes, that is disappointing, but it's also to be expected.

Also not surprisingly, the biggest strength of this film was seeing Carrey and Daniels reunite as these characters. They just work so well together. While they have a lot more wrinkles now than they did last time, their chemistry remained intact. Their banter wasn't as clever as in the original, but it did result in a few very funny exchanges. Carrey and Daniels play these roles so well, it was just a joy to see them inhabit these characters again. The supporting cast was okay- I don't love Rob Riggle, but he had some nice moments. The full body paint was seriously cool and I was wowed every single time. I like Laurie Holden from "The Walking Dead", but she added very little to this film. The rest of the supporting cast was okay, but no one really emerged as a star.

I do like that this film continued the tradition of the original by having Harry and Lloyd embark on a cross-country trip. This does give them ample opportunity for a wide array of misadventures. I thought it was a decent attempt to connect this film to the first (by bringing Billy back, having Fraida Felcher play a role, etc.). However, there were quite a few moments that felt like unnecessary rehashes of the original film. There was no reason for the poochmobile, especially considering it was on screen for like 30 seconds. There was also a number of halfhearted attempts to connect jokes from this one to the first one (do you want to hear the second most annoying sound in the world?). Those attempts weren't much appreciated- I wish this film would have attempted to be funny in its own right.

Now, I thought the movie did a good job moving along until Harry and Lloyd reached El Paso- it was at this point when the film bogged down and kind of fell apart. There was a long stretch where I really started to lose interest, especially when the story attempted to mimic the original a bit too closely. If you're looking for flaws, you can easily find them, especially towards the end of the film.

So, it's not surprising that Dumb & Dumber To offers a large drop in quality from the classic original. Twenty years is a long time to wait for a sequel, and no one involved (except perhaps Daniels) has upped their game much in the last two years. This is an inferior sequel, although it's still better than many comedies today. I'd consider this a good movie and I enjoyed it, if for no reason other than just checking in with Harry and Lloyd once again.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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