DUMB AND DUMBER TO: Movie Review

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"DUMB AND DUMBER TO: Movie Review"

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A sequel to one of the greatest comedies of all time? Why? You can’t out-dumb what’s already dumb!

The 90s were an era where slapstick comedies were the shit! It was expected and desired. It was about weird antics, unusual settings, and pure goofiness! The Farrelly brothers (DUMB AND DUMBER, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY) were a duo who pretty much provided them. It’s also fair to say Jim Carrey (ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE, DUMB AND DUMBER, THE MASK) also had his finger dipped in the slapstick batter during the 90s. Not only were things a bit smoother back then, but the flicks were different, and the level of expectancy when seeking out laughter leaned more towards silliness, leading to wonderful movies that felt good.

Here we are twenty years later and the game has changed completely. Nowadays it’s all about remakes, unnecessary prequels, sequels, and trilogies, sprinkled with a little touch of big budgets and lots of noise. DUMB AND DUMBER is an all-time comedy classic (aside from many others) that didn’t need to be retouched or even given a sequel. A spin-off prequel was released back in 2003 that was completely horrible and quite frankly an insult to the brilliance of DUMB AND DUMBER. Now the bar is raised because there’s a sequel that actually IS linked to the franchise, and like most that suffer the curse, what I feared would happen, happened! (I was so against this sequel!)

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Well, the boys are back to reprise their roles as lovable idiots Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in DUMB AND DUMBER TO.

Its leads (who still shine and play out those roles as fresh and sharp as they did twenty years ago), a handful of inside, obscure jokes that turn-back-the-clock, and Rob Riggle don’t do this film any justice. The brilliance the boys had in the first was flipped and turned into mean-mocking. What was great about the first movie was the innocence Lloyd and Harry had that led to dumb decisions, reactions, and an overall chaotic turn of events. This time around as the template for its predecessor is clear, the push from the Ferrelly’s was one that seemed wanting to cater to today’s terms (i.e. drugs, illegitimate kids, shitting, race jokes, etc.) Not that they all sucked, some were pretty interesting and funny, but for the most part Lloyd and Harry seemed to have lost that sweet sensation of clean wonder. You know, the two imbecilic bundles of joy we fell in love with back in 1994.

Honestly, it was that soft joy and unique appeal that not only made the original enjoyable, but the onslaught of brilliant joke after brilliant joke that was also very engaging. DUMBER TO has it in patches, along with a follow-up story-line, but it’s just too bad it didn’t really live up to what I’m sure most are expecting. This will make money and lure a lot of its die-hards, but once they embark on the journey along with Lloyd and Harry, they’ll quickly realize you can’t triple stamp a double stamp.

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Grade: C / Genre: Comedy, Sequel / Rated: PG-13 / Run Time: 1 Hr. 49 Min.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Laurie Holden, Rob Riggle, Kathleen Turner

Directed by: Bobby and Peter Farrelly

UNIVERSAL

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