Review of Dumb and Dumber To (2014) by Christian C — 01 Sep 2015

What made the original "Dumb and Dumber" work so well was the juxtaposition of Harry and Lloyd's obliviousness against the competence of every other character. The humor mostly came from seeing how normal people reacted to the duo's jaw-dropping - and innocent - stupidity.

The Farrelly Brothers might have hit on that successful formula by accident though, because they fill this movie with characters who are just as idiotic as Harry and Lloyd. There's also a streak of cruelty that makes the two leads hard to like. Maybe this is just a reflection of how much Hollywood has dumbed-down in the last twenty years, but it seems more likely that the Farrellys have simply lost their mojo.

Still, there are a handful of great laughs sprinkled throughout the movie's overly-long 110 minutes. Among the best is a sight gag that causes Jeff Daniels' Harry (who is much better at recreating his character than Jim Carrey) to observe, "That's weird. The smell of peanuts makes my weenie cold.".