We got no food, we got no jobs… our pet’s heads are falling off!
In anticipation of Dumb and Dumber To, coming out this November, I’m taking a look back at favorite moments from the original Dumb and Dumber. Even though this dumb-humored comedy receives a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, it is a cult classic that I have heard cited in elementary classrooms on up through college dorm rooms, “Hey guys. Woah, Big Gulps, huh? [pause] All right! Welp, see ya later.” I must admit that Dumb and Dumber isn’t my favorite stupid comedy. I find Jim Carrey, especially in his early years, to be obnoxious and over-the-top, but Dumb and Dumber is a comedy that I have found myself, often revisiting for some cheap laughs. I find Jim more ridiculous than obnoxious in this comedy, so I receive this movie better than say The Mask. For those of you out there who swear by the comedic genius of Jim Carrey and this movie, I’m not disagreeing with you entirely and for you I have shared some of my favorite moments from the film.
Still courtesy of Andrew’s Idea Blog.
Numero uno– the time when Lloyd (Jim Carrey) gives his dead parakeet to the blind kid downstairs.“Pretty bird, Pretty bird.” I love how this incident later becomes a national headline, along with when they accidentally kill a hit man with rat poison. Lloyd and Harry (Jeff Daniels) aren’t cruel, but so incredibly stupid that you feel sorry for them. They are also pretty creepy– which I’m not entirely sure can be chalked up to their stupidity and crude social skills. Nonetheless this is the humor of the film. Lloyd and Harry’s (Jeff Daniels) “rapid-fire sight gags,” as Rogert Ebert phrases it, make up for the dull plot– a wild goose chase to find Mary Swanson, or wait Sampson or is it Samsonsite, and return her briefcase to her.
In a van, dressed like a dog that shares the same hair as Harry, the duo gallantly depart Providence for Aspen in search of Mary. Unknowingly they are harboring ransom from a group of criminals who are pursuing them on their journey. It is a miracle that they make it to Aspen, especially since they believed it to be in California “According to the map, we’ve only gone four inches.” They get pulled over by a cop who drinks Lloyd’s urine out of a beer bottle, plus they tick off some tough guys in a diner, who they narrowly escape. Then they replace the shaggin’ wagon for a scooter to get them through mountain passes in the Rockies. The dog-themed van does make a come-back in Dumb and Dumber To.
Image courtesy of Blogspot.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that these two fools are terrible with women. Lloyd falls head over heels in love without a moment’s notice. “Austria? Well then. Good day mate. Let’s put another shrimp on the barbie.” This is how he hits on the first woman of the film. When he meets Mary, he loses all sanity and basic motor functions– driving his limo into a parked car. Harry is just as clueless, ” Yeah I called her up. She gave me a bunch of crap about me not listening to her, or something. I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention.” However once they arrive to Aspen, Harry miraculously scores a date with Mary to go skiing. He pummels her with snowballs in a playful snowball fight and shoves her face into a pile of snow. However big of a creep Lloyd appears when Mary is around, his optimism is impressive. When Mary tells him his chances of dating her are “More like one out of a million.”He responds “So you’re telling me there’s a chance…YEAH!” In Dumb and Dumber To, Mary Swanson was the catalyst for a 20-year gag Lloyd played at what appears to be a mental institution. “Mary Samsonite was just a girl,” says Harry when visiting Lloyd. This was just a joke that Lloyd played for twenty years and once he reveals this, the adventure begins– not in search of Mary but this time Harry’s long-lost daughter– who of course Lloyd falls in love with.
It will be fun to see what Lloyd and Harry have been up to in the last twenty years. Harry still lives in the same grungy apartment,that they once shared. Lloyd still find his “world’s most annoying sound” to be completely hilarious. Other than a child, we will have to wait until November to see what else has changed.
Watch the trailer for Dumb and Dumber To.
