Utterly moronic, but very funny

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2003)

I feel like an idiot for liking this movie, but I do. I normally can't stand brainless gross-out comedies, but this one I found just twisted and edgy enough to make me laugh.
Unlike most fans, however, I didn't find Jim Carrey all that funny. As with ACE VENTURA (which I hated), he bugs his eyes, waves his arms, screams, flails, and seems to think he's simply hilarious, when he's actually little more than amusing (if not a tad annoying).
The highlight of this movie is Jeff Daniels. He's done comedy before, but never this broad, as he usually plays the straight man to someone else. Here, though, he turns in a brilliant comic performance that blows Carrey off the screen. The infamous diarrhea scene could have simply been nothing more than a gross potty humor joke for eight year olds, but Daniels turns it into a slapstick masterpiece that would make Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards proud.
Unfortunately, the success of this movie (and Daniels' newfound popularity because of it) led him to star in such lame-brained romps as TRIAL AND ERROR, 101 DALMATIONS and MY FAVORITE MARTIAN. Hopefully he'll get back on track and do some real acting again. But DUMB AND DUMBER, like it or not, will forever be one of his very best performances.