DUMB AND DUMBER TO – The Review

Do you have a “golden year”, the year where everything seemed to come together? Maybe you got the perfect job and met Ms. or Mr. Right all within just a few months. Well, for Mr. Jim Carrey a good case could be made for 1994. After putting in several years on TV (“The Duck Factory” “In Living Color”) along with sporadic screen roles (from THE DEAD POOL to ONCE BITTEN), his career went super-nova with the unexpected smash ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE in the first few months of that year. In the Summer it was another box office bonanza with THE MASK. But the icing on the cake may have been his holiday-time hit DUMB AND DUMBER. In the ensuing two decades, Jim’s had his highs and lows, even supporting up and coming new comedy flick stars like Steve Carrell in THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE last year. He’s also tackled some dramatic roles, like THE TRUMAN SHOW, while sidestepping most sequels to his earlier successes (he did revisit Ace, but passed on slipping on that mask again, much to Jamie Kennedy’s woe). But after much pleading he’s slapped on the bowl haircut wig, removed the front tooth cap, and become Lloyd Christmas once again for DUMB AND DUMBER TO (get it?). Beside reteaming with Jeff Daniels, Peter and Bobby, the Farrelly brothers are behind the camera for another spin (hey their career since the big splash 20 years ago has had a few peaks with more than a couple valleys). So will the big reunion strike comedy, and box office, gold? Leave your IQ at home and let’s hit the highway with Harry and Lloyd!

In the two decades since the last adventure it seems that Lloyd has vegged out. Oh, but it’s just a gag on ole’ Harry (Daniels). Now Harry drops a bomb on his pal: he needs a new kidney. After a quick trip to Harry’s parents home, who inform him that he’s adopted, they go through the mail that’s been piling up. There’s a 1992 postcard from old flame Fraida Felcher (Kathleen Turner) saying she’s ‘preggers’! The duo visit her and find out that she gave up the baby girl for adoption. Fraida’s tried to contact her (she located her new family), but the letter was returned with a note saying that she should not contact her again. But that won’t stop H and L, so they grab the envelope, borrow Fraida’s hearse and hit the road to Maryland. Soon the duo run afoul of a scheming wife, her handyman lover, his special ops twin, and a convention full of geniuses in El Paso. But can they locate the girl, Penny (Rachel Melvin) before Harry’s time runs out?

Carrey gives this return the “ole’ college try” bringing his usual manic energy to every line reading and gesture acting almost as a human defibrillator to the listless script. At least he’s still unpredictable and spirited. Daniel, who’s bounced between drama and comedy since his last turn as Harry (even picking up an Emmy for his lead role in “The Newsroom”), does his best to keep up with Carrey, but ends up resorting to “mooning” us in far too many scenes. The gifted Rob Riggle tries to inject some life into the proceedings with his arrogant, oafish twins. He always seems to brighten up any comedy, usually as the villain, so when’s his shot at a lead? As for the ladies, Laurie Holden, late of TV’s “The Walking Dead”, is given little to do other than slink as sneer as a 40’s film noir villainess parody with a thing for “little piggies” (really, that’s funny?). Melvin is an attractive daffy ditz who’s there mostly to mimic the film’s leads. The best sport may be Turner putting a middle-aged spin on her 80’s sexpot roles, her sultry Jessica Rabbit purr now a gutteral growl. The whole cast’s really doing their best to push this rickety vehicle up some steep hills.

And who’s responsible for those hills? Six writers!! Six to come up with this? And I was shocked that after 19 years, the best Steven, George, and company could come up with was INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL! This crew had one more year and delivered this dreck that just lurches from one set-up to the next, hoping for a big pay-off in laughs (sorry, “shrub club” don’t cut it!). There’s a huge over-reliance on bodily fluids, thinking that every gross-out ups the hilarity, literally every fluid (dog drool check! urine check!etc.). And while the boys had some kind of innocent, naive charm in the first outing, now they seem to delight in being gleefully cruel to everyone they meet. Oh, plus the sex jokes are particularly puriant especially with a senior citizen and Lloyd’s skeevy obsession with Harry’s “daughter”. The Farrelly boys appear to have been dozing at the wheel as the lifeless exercise lumbers towards the end of it’s very looong running time. A little editing would’ve been nice, certainly chopping out a reviled reality TV star’s cameo (hey, the scandal’s a month old, you had time to cut  it!). You could feel the audience stiffen at her arrival on-screen. So,you fans got your wish. They got back together, but I’m highly doubtful the end results will please most. Harry and Lloyd may be dumber, and a lot older, but they sure aren’t funnier. As L might say, “Ah loathe it a LOT!”

1.5 out of 5