Dumb and Dumber To

The first Dumb and Dumber is a modern comedy classic, aint no mistake! It represents the Farrelly brothers finest work and famously paired Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels (who knew) together as a double-act to rival the classics of yesteryear.
A prequel was made (Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd) with the cast and crew of the original largely absent. In my opinion they missed a golden opportunity to cast Carrey and Daniels as their younger selves - now that could've been fun!

Twenty years later and a belated sequel lands on our shores. As a huge fan of the original, this sequel had been on my radar since it's inception. The Farrelly brothers were directing once more and Carrey and Daniels were back, back, back!
Collectively this spelt success. The announcement of the title itself assured me that the film-makers were in the correct mindset. Surely all they needed to do was to place their idolised pair front and centre and have them drive the story in typically idiotic, yet infantile fashion.
Well, it would appear Harry and Lloyd have grown up! No longer the innocent and naive pair of the first, Harry and Lloyd have hit puberty and become obnoxious teens!

In the original Dumb and Dumber Harry and Lloyd were the put-upon-pair - they were the butt (literally) of 99% of the jokes.This time we're expected to laugh with Harry and Lloyd, almost encouragingly so.
Most of the jokes are at the expense of the co-characters and a good portion of these are in terrible taste; watch as Kathleen Turner is mistaken for a man (for the umpteenth time); discover a second use for a cork, courtesy of a parental dream sequence; laugh with Harry and Lloyd as they purposely disrupt a science conference with an armpit fart or seven - obnoxious teens indeed!

As deflating as this all is to witness, it's still pretty great to see Carrey and Daniels inhabit these roles again. After twenty years, Daniels' second term as Harry Dunne is the more successful of the two, with a performance mirroring that of the original. It would appear Carrey is impersonating Lloyd Christmas however - or else he's taken the evolution of his character more seriously and skewed his performance accordingly. Either way, we all know he's capable of much more.
At the end of the day there are a few genuine laughs to be had and a couple of nice touches which exceed (admittedly lowered) expectation.

If this trajectory of ageing continues, Harry and Lloyd will appear quite decrepit once they mature to adulthood. They could have some fun with that too perhaps (in typical Johnny Knoxville/Bad Grandpa style)?! Until then Dumb and Dumber To is for hardcore fans and obnoxious teens only (it should do pretty well I imagine)!

I for one will be basking in the glory of the original - after twenty years it still has the ability to leave me in stitches!

2/5


Poster image courtesy: www.newfarmcinemas.com.au