Great fun

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2008)

Dumb and Dumber would not be one of those movies destined to fit in the classics. Surely AFI would not want to put this one in the high-caliber humor hits in the history of movies. Still, Dumb and Dumber is one of the funnest comedies of the last 20 years. We meet Lloyd (Jim Carey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels). Both are inept, moronic imbeciles who plan to own a pet store called "I Got Worms." Good luck not only on raising the money, but even more on getting the loan. In any case, both have their odd jobs to get them through. Lloyd's life changes when he drives a woman, Mary (Lauren Holly), to the airport in his limousine, and she forgets her luggage. He decides to take it to her in Aspen, Colorado with the help of Harry. However, the luggage is actually ransom money for her husband. Harry and Lloyd have no idea, but they could really use the money since they have so little. They eventually discover it trying to find Mary, and on their tail are the kidnappers. It reminded me of a Three Stooges, Marx Brothers, or Abbot and Costello movie. However, with these guys, there is no straight man, nor any intelligence. This paves the way for idiotic miscarriages of common sense. Simply put, the audience will laugh because we can be assured that our intelligence is superior. This one also started the gross-out comedy. Looking back, the gross-outs in this one were not over-the-top. They were simple and much more plausible situations. Again, we can laugh because it is not us. There are no breakout performances, nor deft screen writing. Another strength for the movie is that it could work for kids as well as adults. Both ages can have fun with this movie--which is what I often watch on a snow day. Finally, let it be known that truth in stranger than fiction. I knew a guy in graduate school named Mike. In college I knew a guy named Jim. Put them together, you have Dumb and Dumber. However, I think they would have been smart enough to get on the bus at the end.