Movie Review: Dumb and Dumber To

Dumb and Dumber To (2014): 20 years since their first adventure, Harry finds out he has a daughter who was adopted. Lloyd and Harry try to find Harry's adopted daughter.

Was this movie really necessary? No. Is it still enjoyable? Um.....slightly.

Dumb and Dumber is one of the quintessential 90s comedies out there. While the original has garnered a massive cult following, the truth is the movie has not aged very well at all. To me personally the idea of slapstick comedy is a pretty outdated one. So, while usually I go into movies as unbiased as possible, I was very worried that this movie was going to be terrible due to how outdated its premise and ideas are. So, with that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. There was still a fair amount of slapstick in this movie, and while most of it was a miss for me, with a lot of "ughhhh this isn't funny" moments, the movie also had its fair share of hilarious moments. And while some were mentioned in the trailer (the phone gag was still pretty funny) there were quite a few that weren't. I also must compliment the movie for doing a great job of keeping the best parts of itself under wraps and not unveiling them in the trailers. I'm sure that is the biggest question many are asking about this movie: are the funniest gags in the trailers? The answer is no. Not all of them at least. That's good! YAY! So, let's dive into it shall we?

Can we take a minute to talk about Jeff Daniels? This man deserves credit where credit is due. Fun fact: the man's paycheck was only around $50k for the original, which was about 140 times less than Jim Carrey's $7 million. Don't get me wrong: Jim Carrey is a funny guy, but to see Jeff Daniels play dramatic roles in movies like Good Night, and Good Luck., Looper, and the lead in The Newsroom and nail them as well as he does, and then come around and nail his role in Dumb and Dumber To.... that's talent. That is serious talent. The man really deserves more credit than he's getting. And it starts HERE! Raising awareness, people! Jeff Daniels is an awesome actor! Got it? Ok. Moving on. Jim Carrey is awesome in here too, however, the rest of the cast gets kind of overlooked. The only people even of note are Rob Riggie and Laurie Holden. The girl, Rachel Melvin, is borderline awful, and sadly just serves as some unnecessary eye candy. Seriously. The bikini gag with her was stupid and was only in the movie for one reason. I hate it when movies do that....also, I honestly think Rob Riggie is vastly overrated. I think he benefits from a good writing team on his characters because to me his delivery is rather poor. He's like a discount Jason Segel! Ya! We'll go with that. Sorry not sorry if you like him, but seriously. His performances in 21 and 22 Jump Street I were poor at best, however the writing of his character made it alright, and the same holds true here: poor performance, good writing. Actually his character was arguably the most well-written character of the entire film who also had one of the funniest moments of the entire film too. But it was in no way thanks to his performance of the character. Oh the sighs, man...

At 110 minutes long, the movie was definitely too long. The directors, the Farrelly brothers, could've really benefited from cutting out about 20 minutes somewhere between the second and third acts of this movie, or at least 20 minutes worth of gags that weren't funny. That's the thing with this movie: it's a wildly mixed bag. And depending on what kind of humor you enjoy, you'll be rolling on the floor laughing at certain points, and just sitting there shaking your head at other points. As for the story, it's surprisingly decent. There are actually spoilers in Dumb and Dumber To. Which is weird! But there are, and some of these potential spoilers are also some of the funniest points of the movie. However, there really isn't anything else that this movie has to offer. There's no real reason to see it on the big screen unless you are a huge Dumb and Dumber fan. The fans of the franchise will not be disappointed with the movie, but there are definitely better comedies out there from this year. Save your money and Netflix this one. Or watch the movie you didn't watch between Big Hero 6 and Interstellar from last week.You'll probably have a much better time.

The Critique: A wildly mixed bag. Fans of the movie will not be disappointed, however this movie will likely not bring any new fans to the franchise. Also, why does this movie exist at all again? $$$$$$$$$$

The Recommendation: All Dumb and Dumber fans should line up to see this, however everyone else? Just wait and Netflix it. You'll feel better.

Rewatchability: Moderately Low

The Verdict: 5.5/10 Slightly Above Average

Oscar Talk: Hahaha I made a funny! LOOK MOM LOOK AT HOW FUNNY I AM. I should get hired as a comedy writer in Hollywood. You listening Hollywood? Ok! I'm available anytime guys!





Photo Credit
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