Dumb and Dumber ** (1994, Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly) – Classic Movie Review 1963

Or Jim and Jeff’s no brainer. Writer-directors Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly’s 1994 comedy blockbuster stars Jim Carrey and Daniels as two idiots with incredibly bad haircuts who get mixed up in a kidnap plot.

This infuriatingly dumb lowbrow farce mixes stupidity and pratfalls with bodily functions, laxatives, gross-out, off-colour humour, sexism and a hint of homophobia and strains your liking of the two stars to the limit. It makes stupid, well, stupid.

In the Farrelly Brothers’ screenplay, dimwit Lloyd Christmas (Carrey) finds a briefcase and he and his equally thick pal Harry Dunne (Daniels) decide to return it to its owner, not realising it contains ransom money. And so the duo set out on a cross country trip from Providence to Aspen, Colorado to return it to its owner, beautiful Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly), enjoying one mishap after another,

Awful mugging and Jerry Lewis-style acting from Carrey as Lloyd is matched by stupidly goofy nonsense from Daniels as sidekick Harry. Foolish and frustrating farce plumbs comedy’s depths, but it was a huge hit, appealing to all those who enjoy seeing grown-ups behave like kids. Harry and Lloyd are supposed to be redeemed by being good-natured, but the jury’s still out on this one.

It is rated PG-13 (or UK 12) for off-colour humour. The unrated DVD version runs six minutes longer at 113 minutes.

Also in the cast are Mike Starr, Charles Rocket, Karen Duffy, Cam Neely, Harland Williams, Felton Perry, Rob Moran, Teri Garr, Hank Brandt, Joe Baker and Victoria Rowell, as well as Connie Sawyer (1912–2018) as Elderly Lady.

A prequel with a different cast Derek Richardson and Eric Christian Olsen) and co-writer/director (Troy Miller) followed: Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), which happily looked like it terminated Harry and Lloyd for ever, till Dumb and Dumber To appeared in 2014.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1963

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