Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Dumb and Dumber To

16:33 November 21, 2014
By: Fritz Esker

** out of ****

20 years after the original Dumb and Dumber was a surprise blockbuster at the box office, Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, and the Farrelly Brothers return with a sequel.

As big of a hit as the first one was, it’s still not the Farrelly Brothers’ best work. Kingpin and There’s Something About Mary are both markedly superior, mainly because both of those are funny movies that also feature main characters who have arcs. Dumb and Dumber’s Harry & Lloyd (Carrey and Daniels) can be funny in small doses, but at feature length (this installment is 110 minutes), they wear out their welcome.

Once again, Harry & Lloyd are on a cross-country road trip, this time to meet the daughter Harry never realized he had. There are a few genuine laughs here, but the film grows tiresome as the running time drags on. Also, gross-out humor needs to have an element of surprise to it to work. But since the Farrelly Brothers have been making their names with such humor for 20 years, the surprise isn’t there anymore and many of the laughs disappear with it.  Much of the nastier gags are telegraphed in advance. 

Dumb and Dumber To will likely only appeal to the nostalgic or hardcore fans of the original.

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