Photo courtesy of Universal PicturesIn 1994, “Dumb and Dumber” rocked the world with its stupidity. While I was only an unannounced speck in my mother's womb on the date of its release, I can assure you that I wasn’t raised unaware of its farcical charm. My grandfather used to say it was one of the funniest movies he’d ever seen, but that is coming from a man who relished the brutal ignorance of others; he used it as the butt-end of endless joking.
Go see some local art instead. Read our coverage of "The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea" here.
20 years later, my grandfather would be immensely pleased to know nothing has changed — both about people in general and the “Dumb and Dumber” franchise.
“Dumb and Dumber To” opens two decades after its predecessor with Lloyd (Jim Carey) coming out of a seemingly catatonic state to announce to his friend Harry (Jeff Daniels) that the whole thing was a joke, a joke well worth the 20 year surprise in the making.
After a good laugh, the two pals head home from the mental hospital that Lloyd has been staying at this entire time, but not before Harry and two fellow landscapers attempt to rip a catheter out of Lloyd in order to avoid waiting for the hospital staff.
While gags like this can still produce laughs, the scene allowed me to come to the realization that nothing in the film was going to be “new.” Sure, time had changed, but the two heroes of the movie had not.
The plot, also, seemed to change little from its predecessor. This time around, we find out that Harry needs a kidney, and that his best option for a donor is a long-lost daughter Penny (Rachel Melvin) that he only now finds out exists. Thus begins yet another cross-country crusade for a beautiful young woman, a journey full of pranks and intolerable idiocy.
Harry and Lloyd find themselves driving to El Paso, Texas to find Penny at a KEN conference (a TED knock-off), where she is giving a speech for her adoptive father, the brilliant Bernard Pinchelow (Steve Tom), who was unable to attend due to bad health. The Pinchelows’ housekeeper, Travis (Rob Riggle), accompanies the two fools on the instructions of Pinchelow’s devious second wife (Laurie Holden), who is in pursuit of his fortune. His main objective is to make sure Harry and Lloyd don’t get anywhere near Penny.
If Travis brings back to mind the character Mental (Mike Starr) from the 1994 film, then you are tracking the similarities well. In both cases, there is someone, part of a plot neither Harry or Lloyd are keen to, trying to make sure their master plan doesn’t go awry. It seems that by changing some characters and altering the plot line slightly, the directing Farrelly brothers were able to put in as little original work as possible in order to secure some cheap laughs.
I can’t claim that I didn’t laugh throughout the film, but I will say that the number of times I did laugh was few. The funniest moments came from nods to the original — obnoxious daydreams of the main characters, a short-lived return of the Mutts Cutts van and Lloyd misfiring breath freshener provided all the comedic relief I had hoped for. Otherwise, my reaction was often groans and muttering something along the lines of “yeah, yeah. I get it” under my breath.
If you’re thinking about heading to the movies anytime soon, I would like to remind you that the original “Dumb and Dumber” is on Netlfix, and that it is much funnier than this unfortunate rehash.
Reach the reporter at wruof@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @willruof.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
