Just Wild About Mary

Rating: 6/10 (2 October 2008)

This is the Farrelly brothers' masterwork following their other great comedies, "Dumb and Dumber" and "Kingpin". At this film's heart it's just a sweet love story, leavened with scenes of low humor. The Farrellys navigate successfully the fine line between being laugh-out-loud funny and just plain gross superbly. They are abetted by a superb cast. Ben Stiller's nebbishy character get's tiresome in a lot of his films but he is somewhat endearing here. Cameron Diaz is effervescent here as the object of everybody's affection. Matt Dillon has never been better as the sleazy private detective(where's he been lately?). This film may have been a case of the Farrellys being too successful because their subsequent efforts have fallen short of the mark(though I'm one of the few champions of "Me, Myself, and Irene". It's not as bad as some would say). On a final note if anybody's interested in who the minstrel is who provides running commentary throughout the film his name is Jonathan Richman. Richman and his band the Modern Lovers made a classic self-titled rock album in 1972. Richman was something of an eccentric. After the cult success of their initial album, Richman eschewed rock music and went on to make children's records. If anybody's interested though, the Modern Lovers' first album is well worth checking out.