MPAA Rating: PG-13/ Genre: Comedy/ Stars: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Don Lake, Kathleen Turner, Steve Tom, Rachel Melvin, Tembi Locke, Paul Blackthorne, Brady Bluhm, Swizz Beatz, Bill Murray, Derek Holland, Mama June, Cam Neely, Dalton E. Gray/ Runtime: 109 minutes
I think it is safe to start this review off by letting you in on a little secret from the world of movie magic dear reader: whenever Hollywood makes a sequel to a hit in the genre of comedy, the follow-up, more often than not, does not exactly have the best history in the world when it comes to either being on the same level as if not better than what came before, but especially when compared to the proverbial original. This is why, to name but a few noteworthy examples, Ghostbusters II from 1989 failed to make busting feel as good as the original did in 1984, the 4 sequels and countless spinoffs of American Pie ultimately resulted in me going on a diet from pie for a couple of months, Beverly Hills Cop 3 made me wonder just what was so gosh darn alluring about that area in California, and the list just keeps going from there sadly. The reason I bring this up is because the movie I am reviewing today, 2014’s 20-years in the making sequel, Dumb and Dumber To is a movie that keeps this “time-honored tradition” alive much to my inner frustration and sadness. I mean don’t get me wrong: it is a decent enough follow-up in most aspects as not only did it get both Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels to return, but it also got the same helming duo to return and it actually has a few funny moments sprinkled throughout. The problem therefore, and as you may have guessed, is that it just simply is not the original from 1994. Though I guess it should also be said that when taking into account the fact that the original movie is still, even to this day, seen as a favorite of the casual moviegoer that still holds up to this day even as we are 3 years (as of this writing) shy of it being 3 decades since it came out, it is perhaps a bit unfair to criticize this movie for not being able to be better than the iconic original movie. To that end, whilst this movie does thankfully in many respects manage to copy the distinct magic of that first film from 1994, a huge thank you to Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels for being huge factors for that, and it does manage to operate as its own thing which in this case is a decent-enough comedic little time-killer. At the same time however, an incredibly slow tempo and an overwhelming vibe of irrelevance tragically drags this slice of cinematic pie down and as such is unable to be on the same level of comedic genius as its iconic predecessor.
The plot is as follows: After a way too long absence of 2 decades, we as an audience get to witness as Lloyd and Harry are finally brought back together as they, and us in the audience, get to embark upon an all-new series of misadventures. We soon learn that Harry is in desperate need of a new kidney so they first decide to pay Harry’s mom and dad a visit to see if they would be willing to contribute. Yet while that leads absolutely nowhere, it does at the same time have the unintended side effect of Harry acquiring a 25-year old postcard from a girl he used to see by the name of Fraida Felcher that seems to hint that Harry could have a child that could be a potentially suitable donor. However upon visiting Miss Fletcher, we soon learn alongside our duo that she sadly put the child up to be adopted shortly after she was born and she is now the adopted daughter of a very well-off and esteemed scientist by the name of Dr. Pinchelow. A scientist who, incidentally, has also entrusted his adopted daughter, who goes by the name of Penny, to deliver something very important to a science conference that could be worth quite a bit of cheddar. However as our intrepid duo attempt to hunt her down at this distinguished conference for the scientific community, we soon learn that her life is also in peril in due to her adopted mom Adelle’s nefarious machinations to both bump off her husband and get his very appealing bank account all to herself. Thus can our dynamic doofus duo find a way to put their combined 1% (if even that much) of active brain cells to work and find a way to save Penny from this truly perilous plot? Well doh!!!
Now it should be noted that this movie manages to begin with an iconic bit of comedy that, should nothing else in this movie work for you as well as it should, will then serve as the primary reason you are able to remember this movie. Indeed, without saying anything, it manages to work as a perfect bridge between the first movie and this one much as this movie’s other big comedic bit manages to bridge the beginning of this film fairly well to its ending. In the middle of those two comedic moments however are a scattershot of laughs, among which there are a few that are throwbacks to moments from the first movie, surrounded by quite a few either groan-inducing or merely chuckle worthy gags. To that end, we see that this slice of cinematic pie manages to operate with quite the sporadic vibe and flow as although the comedy and our doofus duo are rightly at the heart of the film, the support work around them often gives of the vibe of being overwhelming despite being, obviously, in the background. As a result, we get a film that is too long, and which scatters its better moments to the 4 winds for the sake of making the movie go as long as possible instead of constructing a more solid and efficient tempo. Yes I know that would have meant fewer shanks at the comedy apple, but it would have given the movie a much better framework for our dynamic duo to do what they do best: act like complete morons and have a blast at it.
I guess if nothing else, the one thing that this film does actually do right, seemingly right off the bat, is simply getting Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels to come back to their respective roles of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. I mean even if quite a few of the jokes fail to land on the target that they are supposed to, at least their shenanigans and the bond they have with each other help to really define the film and mold this franchise better than a lot of the weaker comedic or narrative moments (incidentally a key reason why an attempted prequel from 2003 known When Harry Met Lloyd was as bad as it was….that and it was just terrible to begin with.). I mean this film might not be truly iconic in either the realm of comedy or just movie magic in general, but it still is worth watching at least once for no other reason than to go back to the downright incredulous and head-scratching world that these two delightful dunderheads live and thrive in. I mean not only are these 2 just terrific actors period, but even after twenty years, they still manage to bring these roles to life so well that it’s almost like they made this in secret after the first one and just let it sit in a dark room for twenty years. Suffice it to say then that Carrey and Daniels are still one of the finest comedic duos around and even if the rest of the film is not up to snuff, you can still at least depend on them to support the movie as much as possible and in the process make every minute of the movie at least mildly engaging simply due to how top-notch they are with their respective characters.
All in all it is relatively easy to say without a single doubt in my mind that Dumb and Dumber To was never ever going to best the original film from 1994 especially in the thoughts and hearts of those of us who have taken the time to gleam virtually every single last drop of comedic brilliance that the iconic original sought fit to give us over the time span of two decades before this was unloaded on us and most certainly not when looking at the new comedic moments that this slice of cinematic pie sought fit to give us as a reward for our perseverance and our patience. Yet with that out of the way I guess it should be noted that for all the grief I could give this distinct slice of cinematic pie it does have a few instances here and there that made me mildly chuckle including a pair of bits at the beginning and end of the movie that actually did make me laugh. Oh and I guess this film did pull off the remarkable achievement of simply getting back that dynamic duo of cinematic icons that are Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in their iconic roles of Lloyd and Harry respectively who are so persuasive and true to their respective characters that it doesn’t feel even remotely in the slightest that there was a good solid twenty years in between this film and its predecessor (the less said about Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry met Lloyd the better). Suffice it to say then that whilst Dumb and Dumber To is tragically too long for its own good, it is also well worth viewing at least once for a handful of enjoyable moments to say nothing of the work done by our dynamic doofus duo who manage to carry this slice of cinematic pie on their shoulders when nothing else seems to be working, a fact that sadly proves to be more often than it really should have been. On a scale of 1-5 I give Dumb and Dumber To a solid 2.5 out of 5.
