Starring: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle
Directed by: Peter Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber”) and Bobby Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber”)
Written by: Sean Anders (“We’re The Millers”), Mike Cerrone (“The Three Stooges”), Bobby Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber”), Peter Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber”), John Morris (“We’re the Millers”), and Bennett Yellin (“Dumb and Dumber”)
Two decades ago, brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly burst onto the scene with “Dumb and Dumber,†a film that launched their careers and boosted Jim Carrey into the stratosphere, sustaining his mid-90’s run that ascended him to the throne of the undisputed king of mainstream comedy. But because this is 2014 and everything needs a sequel (and because the Farrelly Brothers have spent the better part of a decade trying to recapture their relevance) Carrey and co-star Jeff Daniels return as Harry and Lloyd in “Dumb and Dumber To,†a movie that is aptly titled and completely devoid of even the faintest of laughs.
As Harry (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) are reunited, Harry finds out shocking news: he has an adult daughter he has never met. Determined to reunite with her, Harry and Lloyd embark upon another cross-country trip. Along the way, they run into his daughter’s adoptive parents, one of which is up to a scheme that could put everyone involved in danger. As the dumb duo makes their way to their destination, they also must keep their friendship from becoming rocky once again.
“Dumb and Dumber To†can best be described as feeling like a bad “Saturday Night Live” sketch. Carrey, and especially Daniels, are thrown into terrible fake wigs and the same outfits worn 20 years ago. The sets look fake, the green screening is awful, and basically the entire production including the directorial work seems completely haphazard. Despite the fact that jokes are retreaded and the characters look the same, it is crazy just how void of nostalgia “Dumb and Dumber To†really is. Nothing of the spirit or essence of the first film is anywhere to be found, as Carrey and Daniels clumsily feel like actors stepping into roles they haven’t touched in decades. Though they are both guilty of it, Daniels is especially stuck in a hyperactive, happy-go-lucky, yelling everything line delivery, completely losing any and all subtlety of the dialogue that convey their “dumbness.â€
The most impressive part about “Dumb and Dumber To†is that it took six (yes, six!!!) credited screenwriters to churn out a constant stream of lazy and unfunny jokes. Every single joke in the film is telegraphed a mile away. To call this film’s sense of humor juvenile would be the understatement of the century. When they are not rehashing jokes and plot points from the first film, the writers are throwing out lowbrow stuff like clips of Harry changing Lloyd’s diaper, flatulence jokes, body fluid humor or a game called “funnel nuts,†which is a concept so stupid that I can’t believe was actually thought of and put in a film. Part of what made the original so funny were the ways in which Harry and Lloyd would butcher sayings or fail to realize what was going on around them. Instead, here we get a series of brutally humorless puns and easy jokes at the expense of messing up turns of phrases. Mix that in with a storyline that is completely worthless and pointless and you have one hell of a dud on your hands.
There is a certain level of actual embarrassment felt for Carrey and Daniels as you watch two men in their 50’s act like children and try to cling onto the glory of their early days as each joke after joke bombs badly. What was supposed to be a hilarious trip down memory lane is instead an unnecessary and unfunny drive down a road that leads straight off a cliff, into the abyss where jokes go to die. In what serves as a stunning microcosm of the film itself, there is a scene where Harry and Lloyd stumble upon a cat named Butthole who has completely wiped out, attacked and killed a group of birds he was supposed to be “watching.†As the cat proceeds to fart out feathers, the sole surviving parrot, Siskel, who talks only in movie quotes, delivers the famous line from “Apocalypse Now,” (“The horror…the horrorâ€). Indeed, my fine feathered friend. Indeed.