It’s been 20 years since moviegoers were last acquainted with Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey), but the two great idiots of cinema are back in Dumb and Dumber To, a simple yet effective sequel for the Farrelly brothers’ cult ‘90s comedy.
Not much has changed for Harry and Lloyd – they haven’t grown any wiser or improved their positions in life at all, but are going to have to brave the open road once again when Harry needs a new kidney and has to find a long-lost daughter (Rachel Melvin) in hopes she’ll give him a vital organ.
The set up is flimsy, but to be fair the set up for the first film is pretty flimsy too. The point is to get Harry and Lloyd on the road and let the jokes fly and, in that regard, the film succeeds.
What works about this film is a lot of what works about the first movie – Harry and Lloyd having isolated idiot-to-idiot dialogue and the two interacting with straight-laced and more intellectually enlightened characters. All of those isolated bits work really well.
However, there doesn’t seem to be much of a progression with this movie.
When I saw the trailer and saw that the plot revolved around Harry needing a new kidney and looking for a long-lost relative, I thought it meant that Daniels would have a lot more to do within the story. Daniels is a fantastic actor. He’s great in comedies like the first Dumb and Dumber (where he has a lot more to do), he’s a brilliant dramatic actor in The Newsroom, and he even balances the two well in works like Arachnophobia.
Carrey gets the most of the fun stuff to do in this movie, however. I wasn’t turned off by Carrey’s performance, in fact, Carrey has a scene in this movie where Lloyd eats a hotdog without ever taking a bite and it’s physically and hilariously astounding. But, I was hoping that – like the first film – the comedy would be a bit more balanced between Daniels and Carrey.
Rob Riggle is perhaps the third biggest star in the movie as Harry and Lloyd’s companion for a stretch, playing the assistant to the adopted family of Harry’s daughter watching over them. He’s good, not great.
He has a great site gag in the movie, but his character is basically just the straight-faced man in a Three Stooges short.
When the jokes work, they really hit hard and induce belly-laughs. But, whenever the Farrelly brothers have to push elements of the plot or introduce the McGuffin – a shadowy box that holds an invention to help all of mankind – the film drags and feels like it’s too convoluted to be in a Dumb and Dumber sequel.
I guess the big question for this movie and fans of the original is whether this particular sequel is as good as or better than the original.
The answer to that question is no, but it’s better than Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd…if that means anything.
Dumb and Dumber To is overall fine, but I couldn’t help but wish that the Farrelly brothers had pushed the characters of Harry and Lloyd a little more.
A lot of fans of the original movie compliment this film for not pushing Harry and Lloyd and changing their characters, but I think they’re forgetting that the original has a lot of interesting moments that ask how far you would go for a friend and what sacrifices a person would make for their best friend.
I think comedy sequels are growing more sophisticated; for instance, I was surprised how well this last summer’s 22 Jump Street progressed its characters without distorting what made them great in the first film.
There’s none of that in this movie.
This film doesn’t push the characters at all, but it works on the most superficial level of enjoyment.
To be honest, if you’re looking for anything else out of a movie titled Dumb and Dumber To, then I don’t know what exactly you were expecting.
I think the best way that I can sum up this movie is by saying the following: I love the original Dumb and Dumber. I like Dumb and Dumber To.
Brian Laughran
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