It’s been 20 years since Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne bumbled their way to Aspen and returned that suitcase to Mary Samsonite. Now they’re back in all their idiotic glory for another round of lunacy, and though Dumb and Dumber To doesn’t have the staying power of its predecessor, have no fear—there’s still plenty of goofy fun to be had—provided you let your mental capacity drift back to its 1994 state.
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels pick up right where they left off, and they leave nothing on the table as the two most blissfully stupid people to ever grace a movie screen. Some of the jokes fall flat, sure—but there enough others that stick the landing, and it’s hard to deny the enjoyment of seeing these two imbeciles in action again.
After faking a pseudo-coma for two decades, Lloyd (Carrey) finally decides to end the joke and rejoin reality, just in time to help his buddy-ol’-pal Harry (Daniels) embark on a road trip to find the daughter he never knew he had (via the fling with Fraida Felcher that was briefly mentioned in Dumb and Dumber). Harry, it turns out, is in need of a kidney, and only the “fruit of his loom” with the right “urine match” can save him. And so begins a journey that is essentially a blow-by-blow redux of Dumb and Dumber. (Hey, it’s right there in the title… Don’t tell me you were expecting Jane Austen.)
Most of the key bits from the first are recycled here: Lloyd and Harry hit the highway with a guy who’s only along to bump both them off, Lloyd has a particularly vivid super-ninja daydream, and, yes, there’s also the requisite (and preposterous) case of mistaken identity. Even little blind Billy (“Pretty bird!”) makes a return appearance, and the post-credits scene features one of the original movie’s most iconic characters. (I’ll say no more.)
On one level, the co-directing Farrelly Brothers (who co-wrote the script along with a gaggle of other folks) were smart to adhere to the old adage of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”, and, as with 22 Jump Street (another sequel whose plot was identical to its original), the jokes and the buy-in from the cast are what carry the day; both Daniels and Carrey seem to be one-upping each other in the “I’m Having the Most Fun Here!” Department.
The film is not without its faults, and the most obvious one could have been fixed in the editing room. Dumb and Dumber To is only three minutes longer than its predecessor, but a good half-hour needs to get chopped.
You might not “like it uh lot”, but Dumb and Dumber To isn’t nearly the disaster it could (and should) have been.
3/5 stars