If you loved Dumb and Dumber then you going to like Dumb and Dumber To.
How’s that for a tagline? And while it doesn’t ring high praise, it’s probably true. Given that an unforgiving 20 year length of time has withered the talents of most involved here, this cash-in sequel is about as good as one could hope.
Consider Jim Carrey. When he strutted into our lives in 1994 with Ace Ventura we had never seen anything like him. He was far over- over the top and had a deep bag of tricks that consisted of talking from his ass and some expert level physical comedy. But then, right around the time he chewed up the Styrofoam scenery in the live action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the bag emptied and he began repeating himself. The annoyingly funny just became annoying and the sad result is that he hasn’t had a relevant hit for 10 years. (Side Note to that: I do believe the man is incredibly talented and wish he would find more projects like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and steer well clear of power-crap like Mr. Popper’s Penguins).
Now consider the directors of both Dumb movies, the Farrelly brothers. Their career path pretty much parallels Mr. Carrey’s. They quickly established themselves as unique talents making killer gross out comedy for the masses. After the first Dumb and Dumber they released Kingpin, a bowling saga about a one handed bowler and an Amish prodigy that gave us one of Bill Murray’s best works. There’s Something about Mary rose the bar in what was acceptable in popular entertainment, made millions and established semen as a viable prop for comedy. Then they began repeating themselves, trying to out gross their prior works and falling flat. The Bag of Tricks emptied again. Recent examples of the Farrelly brand of unfunny: Hall Pass (Pitch: Your wife life lets you bang whoever you want because your having marriage issues ), The Heartbreak Kid (Pitch: We get Ben Stiller back to rekindle that Mary magic and he falls in love with someone other than his new wife on their honeymoon ), and The Three Stooges (Pitch: It really is just a remake of The Three Stooges with some guys doing decent impersonations of some comedians that were considered funny about 60 years ago).
Finally consider Jeff Daniels. He’s awesome. Always has been and always will be.
So if you analyze these elements it is an easy statement to say that Dumb and Dumber To is a success considering all that had to overcome. The joke hit ratio is about 30/70 with 70 being the flat jokes but I laughed enough to enjoy it. The spirit of the first film is captured and it is nice seeing Carrey stomping around like an idiot again.
It is amazing that the film received its PG-13 rating as you will see a pair of severed balls but I’m sure if you’re in the market for this flick, a sack of rubber nuts will be welcomed.
Now if we are going to start cannibalizing the Carrey filmography might I suggest a sequel to The Truman Show where he is forced to go live with the Kardashians in the Hamptons?