Dumb and Dumber To

Going into this movie, I knew it could have gone one of two ways. It could have been surprisingly funny, just like the original was two decades ago, or it could of been disappointing. And it did end up being disappointing, not because it was unfunny, but more because we didn't get anything new. One thing is for certain, it says it all in the title.

Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) are reunited after twenty years of Lloyd pretending to be in a catatonic state, just to make a joke at Harry's expense. Harry finds out that he fathered a child with Fraida Felcher (Kathleen Turner) and that she put the baby girl up for adoption. After Lloyd sees the photo of her and falls in love, he decides to help Harry find his now grown up daughter, who is now named Penny Pinchelow (Rachel Melvin).

All in all this movie is almost a carbon copy of the original film. Harry and Lloyd are traveling across the country to find a girl and along the way they foil the plot of another couple (this time played by Rob Riggle and Laurie Holden), who are trying to get rich of someone they are close to. All the jokes in this one are just playing to fans of the original, Billy in 4c (the blind kid with the parrot) makes a return and is even played by the same actor. There is a henchman being extremely annoyed by them in a car until he dies and even the dog van makes a return. I felt like there needed to be newer jokes for a new audience, but apparently the Farrelly Brothers disagree. Sure, there was an obvious Breaking Bad reference, but the joke was extremely laboured and would have done well as a throwaway line.

It is amazing to have watched the careers of Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey steer in totally different directions. Daniels is now regarded as a fine dramatic actor, whilst Carrey is still trying to hold onto his past as wacky comedic actor. That said, Carrey still possesses his amazing ability as a physical comedian and still throws himself around just as much as he did as a younger man. Daniels slips back into the role of Harry with such ease, that it's hard to believe that he won an Emmy for Best Dramatic Actor just prior to making this film.

All the other actors in this film gave pretty poor performances. Kathleen Turner was a hero in the 80s and 90s with her quick wit, but here she just felt lethargic. Rachel Melvin needs a bit more acting experience before tackling roles like this, because I couldn't help feeling that she is an idiot just like her character. Laurie Holden has never been an actor who has captured me with any of her roles and I know that Rob Riggle can do better than he did here.

Verdict: This movie payed too much service to fans of the original and didn't pave the way for anything fun or new for younger audiences to watch and have something of their own, especially if they were too young to have seen the first Dumb and Dumber.