FILM REVIEW OF ''DUMB AND DUMBER TO" (2014)

Twenty years have elapsed since Bobby & Peter Farrelly made their cinematic debut as co-directors on “Dumb and Dumber” (1994) with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.  Although it wasn’t nearly as side-splitting as subsequent Farrelly fare, such as “Kingpin,” “There’s Something About Mary,” and “Me, Myself & Irene,” “Dumb and Dumber” acquainted audiences with the Farrellys’ politically-incorrect brand of lowest common denominator humor.  Not surprisingly, the “Dumb and Dumber” slapstick sequel “Dumb and Dumber To” (***1/2 OUT OF ****) constitutes nothing short of an assault on good taste.  The Farrellys conjured up a catalogue of rude, crude, and lewd jokes that made “Dumb and Dumber” a riotous outing as well as a smash box office hit, and the lunatic sequel serves up even more audacious antics.  If you abhor raunchy humor, you should avoid at all costs this anthology of gross-out gags, some so lowbrow that discretion discourages me from describing them in depth.  Reprising their roles as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, Carrey and Daniels wallow in a rib-tickling variety of pranks, concerning grotesque bodily functions, bared buttocks, and flatulence galore. Although the overall narrative concept isn’t as fresh as the original “Dumb and Dumber,” the farce is still clearly with Lloyd and Harry, and this impertinent comedy tops the original.  If you thought Lloyd and Harry were morons in “Dumb and Dumber,” they are twice as obtuse in this sequel. Not only does “Dumber and Dumber To” imitate its predecessor’s jokes and pratfalls, but it also delivers even more material to laugh and/or cringe at than the original.  One of my favorites is the peanut funnel gag.  In my day, somebody persuaded you to stick a funnel in your britches, place a quarter on your forehead, and then drop George Washington into the funnel three times to demonstrate your genius.  As you prepared for the third attempt, somebody would empty an icy Slush Puppy into the funnel and drench your drawers. 

 

Most sequels provide less-than-inspired links to their predecessors. Indeed, everybody knows Hollywood makes sequels primarily for the loot.  Reportedly, Jim Carrey found himself between places on the road when he caught the original “Dumb and Dumber” again on television.  So enamored was Carrey with the memory of the first film that he convinced Bobby and Peter Farrelly and Jeff Daniels to reunite for the belated sequel.  The link between the two movies is so absurd that you cannot help but burst your bladder laughing.  Essentially, “Dumb and Dumber To” adopts the same road trip narrative. This time around our harebrained heroes aren’t involved in a kidnapping. Instead, Harry has been taking care of poor Lloyd who has been a patient in the Baldy View Mental Hospital for the past twenty years.  Lloyd succumbed to depression because he couldn’t win over the girl of his dreams, Mary Swanson, in the original “Dumb and Dumber.” As it turns out, Lloyd faked his own depression, and Harry has been diligently changing Lloyd’s shorts and cleaning his buttocks for two decades.  Indeed, Lloyd has made Harry the butt of his own joke.  Lloyd stops faking his mental illness one day after Harry informs him that he must undergo a kidney transplant.  Incredibly, when Lloyd comes clean, Harry isn’t insulted by Lloyd’s deception.  Later, Harry learns that he may have been a father when he dated an old girlfriend, Fraida Felcher (a plump Kathleen Turner of “Serial Mom”), back in his high school days.  Fraida hands them a letter with her daughter’s address.  She put Penny (Rachel Melvin of “Zombeavers”), up for adoption years ago.  Fraida loans them a hearse to search for Penny, and these knuckleheads read the wrong address and wind up back where they started from at Frieda’s house. Eventually, they manage to find Penny, who has been raised by a brilliant scientist, Dr. Barnard Pinchelow (Stephen Tom of “Android Cop”), and his late wife. Dr. Pinchelow’s first wife has since died, and he has remarried.  Pinchelow’s second wife, Adele (Laurie Holden of “The Walking Dead”), plans to steal a package worth billions that he has entrusted to Penny to take to a science convention in El Paso, Texas, where she will deliver a speech about her father’s legacy.  Meanwhile, Adele is trying secretly to poison Pinchelow, with the help of Travis (Robert Riggle of “21 Jump Street”) their sinister grounds-keeper.  Penny, who is just as incompetent as our heroes, not only forgets her father’s package but also her cell phone.  Adele sends Lloyd and Harry after Penny to give her the mysterious package with Travis accompanying them.  As you can see, “Dumb and Dumber To” packs a lot of plot for a sophomoric comedy, and you have to connect quite a few dots in its complicated timeline. 

 

The crowning glory of “Dumb and Dumber To” is the pathetic idiocy of its protagonists.  The elastic-faced Carrey and the equally befuddled Daniels get away with a lot in this PG-13 epic.  Like the original “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey and Daniels perform the same silly shenanigans without one upstaging the other.  Basically, they qualify as ‘The Two Stooges.’  Carrey still wears his coiffure clipped like Moe Howard of the original “Three Stooges,” as if a barber had put a bowl on his noggin and trimmed his locks around the edge.  Meanwhile, Daniels ruffles his hair and makes funny faces like Larry Fine, another “Three Stooges” alumnus. Not surprisingly, the Farrellys are lifelong “Three Stooges” fans, but their last film, a cinematic homage to “The Three Stooges,” didn’t live up to the insanity of the originals.  Nevertheless, “Dumb and Dumber To” ranks as their funniest farce since "The Heartbreak Kid” (2007) with Ben Stiller. Their hopeless buffoonery will prompt you want to take another look at the original. Don’t waste your time on the atrocious prequel “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.”  Despite its pervasive toilet humor, “Dumb and Dumber To” will make connoisseurs of crappy comedy flush with joy at its irreverent antics.

FILM REVIEW OF ''YES MAN'' (2008)

Just say NO to the new Jim Carrey comedy “Yes Man” (** out of ****), a frivolous exercise in high-concept celluloid that co-stars dishy Zooey Deschanel and grim-faced Terence Stamp. This one-note nonsense about a negative-minded man who realizes the affirmative power of the word ‘yes’ recalls an earlier Carrey epic “Liar, Liar” (1997) about an unprincipled lawyer who prevaricated at the least provocation. The gimmick in “Liar Liar” was his son’s birthday wish that his father couldn’t fib. Consequently, the reformed attorney had to tell the truth no matter what the situation.

In “Yes Man,” the rubber-faced funny man must say ‘yes’ to everybody with a request. Inevitably, our hero’s life takes some hallowing turns, but nothing really surprising happens. Well, perhaps something surprising occurs in one scene where dentures in a glass of water on a night stand figures prominently. Mind you, moviegoers who appreciate risqué humor will split their sides laughing. Fastidious folks, on the contrary, may grimace with horror and feel offended by this salacious twist.

Along with its single usage of the F-word as prescribed by the Motion Picture Association of America in all PG-13 flicks, “Break Up” director Peyton Reed’s “Yes Man” recycles the typical boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-wins-girl back tale. Audiences that adore Carrey’s elastic-cheeked clowning no matter what he does may find this far-fetched foolishness farcical. Discriminating audiences will feel like they’ve been cheated, even at matinee prices. At 104 minutes, “Yes Man” qualifies as more mess than merriment.

Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) loves to say ‘no.’ As a bank loan officer, nay saying is second nature to him. As it turns out, our pitiful protagonist lost his wife, Stephanie (Molly Sims of “Starsky & Hutch”), after six months of marriage because she felt Carl was too dull for her own good. Since their divorce three years ago, Carl has shunned his friends, particularly Peter (Bradley Cooper of “The Comebacks”) and Rooney (Danny Masterson of “Face/Off”), and confined himself to his apartment watching Blockbuster DVDs. At work, Carl tolerates his goofy boss, Norm (a hilarious Rhys Darby of “"The Flight of the Conchords"), who keeps inviting him to his masquerade parties. Speaking of product placement, this Warner Brothers release shamelessly touts its own movies, such as the “Harry Potter” franchise and “300” for Norm’s parties.

One day while he is relaxing outside the bank, Carl meets a former bank colleague, Nick (John Michael Higgins of “Evan Almighty”), who lives life to the hilt and shows no ill effects for all his reckless indulgence. So impressed by Nick’s carefree attitude is Carl that he attends a self-help seminar hosted by charismatic Dale Carnegie-type counselor Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp of “Superman”) who preaches about the positive power of saying ‘yes.’ Appropriately enough, Carl resists the urge to say yes, but the crowd around him changes his mind.

No sooner has our hero left the seminar than a shrewd homeless man, who has been taking advantage of Bundley’s converts, hits up Carl for a free ride to a far-off park, the use of his cell phone, and every dollar in his wallet. Not only does Carl run out of gas by the time he reaches the park, but also the homeless guy (Brent Briscoe of “Mr. Woodcock”) has depleted Carl’s cell phone battery. Carl traipses several miles back into town to fill up his gas container. At the gas station, he meets free-spirited, non-conformist Allison (Zooey Deschanel of “The Happening”) who is gassing up her motor scooter. She sports a helmet with Tweety Bird eyes painted on it so you know she is a little wacky, too. Anyway, Allison offers Carl a ride, and he says ‘yes’ to a new relationship. At the same time, Carl decides to take flying lessons, guitar lessons, learns to speak Korean, and searches for a spouse at the website persianwifefinder.com. Eventually, things sour for our love birds because Allison learns that Carl has programmed himself to say yes to everybody.

Watching Jim Carrey is always a treat because he is so spontaneous. His physical humor and his facial antics are as infectiously funny as ever. The contrived screenplay by “Fun with Dick & Jane” scribe Nicholas Stoller as well as newcomers Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogol, however, runs out of comic momentum about 45 minutes and becomes hopelessly predictable. One amusing moment occurs when our hero saves a suicidal man (Luis Guzmán of “School for Scoundrels”) by using his newly acquired guitar playing skills and getting the man as well as a crowd of spectators to join him in a sing-along.

Carl’s love interest is flaky as all get-out; she teaches a photography class where students jog around Griffith Park and snap photos. You’d think Allison would have noticed how Carl always blurts out ‘yes’ to anybody. She decides to dump our hero because she feels that he isn’t so much attracted to her ridiculous life-style as he is committed to the ‘yes’ covenant he made with Bundley. Meanwhile, Rhys Darby matches Carrey’s maniac comic energy with his use of childish nicknames and nerdy parties. Terence Stamp, who played General Zod in the Christopher Reeve “Superman” movie, makes a great comic foil as the harried guru who bullied Carl into taking his covenant and regrets having done so during our hero’s fourth-quarter meltdown.

Indeed, the “Yes Man” trailer makes this movie look far better than it is. Aside from the possibly objectionable scene with an elderly, sex-starved neighbor who promises to relieve our hero’s anxieties, “Yes Man” amounts to a made-to-order, upbeat date movie. Nevertheless, compared with Carrey’s funnier films, especially his “Ace Ventura” movies, “Yes Man” is one big No-No.