Well, there is a problem with high expectations. Usually, they get dashed against the wall. I went into this sequel to the fantastic Dumb and Dumber with the exact opposite attitude I went into the first one, and it turns out one hurts a lot worse than the other.
There really isn't a lot to Dumb and Dumber To if you have already seen the first. We get the continuing adventures of Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels), two of the dumbest nitwits alive. After being in a mental asylum for twenty years as a goof, Harry and Lloyd resume their lives. It turns out Harry finds out he is a father, but he got the notification 22 years too late. When Lloyd sees her picture, he falls in love (or more accurately, in lust) with Harry's newfound daughter. This sets them off on a trip which brings the madcap duo back to the screen.
When I saw Dumb and Dumber for the first time, I almost had to be dragged there at gunpoint. I was on vacation, didn't want to see a movie, and worse yet, had been purposefully avoiding this one because it looked so...well, dumb. As it turned out, it was one of the funniest films I have ever seen. A film I can still watch today and bust a gut laughing (turbo lax?). The combination with my hating the possibility of seeing it with the heat of 10,000 suns and just how incredibly funny it actually was made for one of the most sublime movie experiences I have ever had. After the movie was a hit, the two leads went onto bigger and better things and never looked back.
Well, I guess Carrey and Daniels needed the paycheck because it's twenty years later and we're back to the past. Now, to be fair, the movie has two or three incredibly funny jokes in it that save it from total mediocrity. Unfortunately, that is not enough to make this a film worth the $13 it will cost you to see it. A friend put it perfectly. When they did the first film in their mid 30s, it was edgy stuff that was great and original. Fast forward twenty years, and they are now in their mid 50s, and the jokes just seem mean. He hit the nail on the head. The film's chief, and possibly fatal, flaw is that it either assumes you never saw the first one or that you like ironic self-reference a LOT. They must have really liked every single joke they wrote in the first movie, because they are all rehashed in this one. Don't believe me? Check out the teaser posters:
Now, as a rule, there is nothing wrong with a little self-reference. In fact, it can be quite funny if it builds on the joke. But, like cilantro, a little goes a long way. The problem is when that self-reference is the essence of the movie, especially a comedy, it constantly reminds us that you are out of good, or at least original, ideas. Then the question becomes why should we watch this when the original is so much better? While there are many factors that make humor funny, I would argue one of the most important is spontaneity, the fact we don't see the joke coming. And that is the chief problem with Dumb and Dumber To; you see all the jokes coming because you've already seen them once before. And the end result is not a comedic masterpiece, but rather seems like a cynical retread to separate us from our money. The producers and writers didn't even work that hard at it. They said "Let's just do the same damn thing we did before and the stupid public will eat it up." Carrey and Daniels are both in fine form and try their best to save this film, but sadly for them, in this case, lightning did not strike twice.
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