Since Jim Carrey is on the agenda.......
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Dumb and Dumber (1994) - The Farrelly Brothers
Recently out/available on Amazon Prime Instant video - I watched on R2 DVD
The Farrelly brothers debut breakout hit - bolstered by Carrey’s burgeoning popularity and a very game Jeff Daniels - is still unsurpassed in terms of their comedic output for my money. Out of all their comedies, Dumb and Dumber also stands out as their most accessible before they started to push the boundaries more and more, as evidenced in their later hits Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary. To demonstrate, I would not feel comfortable to show my boys the latter two just yet but Dumb and Dumber remains just on the right side of the threshold (the theatrical cut at least - not the awful extended cut that removes any subtleties the film had left by laying it all on the table).
The theatrical cut hits all the right notes - an almost perfect buddy/road movie with our lovable losers hilariously stumbling from one crazy scenario to the next. Carrey could do no wrong at this point but it is Jeff Daniels who was the revelation - matching his co-star pound for pound with his versatility at slipping into this kind of role.
Special mention for the lovely Lauren Holly - who I had quite a crush on back in the day with this film and Dragon: the Bruce Lee Story. The directing/writing siblings really had the Midas touch here as I could write an essay on the amount of memorable moments this film has - the traffic cop ‘drinking’ sequence is my favourite but I could list so, so many others. It’s a shame the belated, official sequel got it so wrong by turning our duo into a couple of very creepy, mean spirited A-holes (something that also pervades the extended cut). Basically, if you want to watch this again, make sure it’s the theatrical cut!
⅘