Let’s get right to the point: Dumb and Dumber To (2014) is crass, rude, crude, offensive, juvenile, stupid, and lacking in any form of good taste. It is, in a word, perfect. At least devoted fans of the original 1994 film Dumb and Dumber will find it so. The film has long been described as a “guilty pleasure” and “happy place movie” by its followers. And they will be pleased to find the long-awaited sequel to be exactly what they wanted. Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) are just as blitheringly idiotic and inept as ever. Only this time instead of transporting a mysterious briefcase to Aspen, Colorado via a hijinks-filled cross-country road trip, Harry and Lloyd are transporting a mysterious package to El Paso, Texas via a hijinks-filled cross-country road trip. And instead of a murderous Mike Starr tagging along and trying to kill them en route, a murderous Rob Riggle tags along and tries to kill them en route. And instead of Lloyd initiating the journey because he longs over a woman at the destination, well… that part is the same, actually.
If this sounds like Dumb and Dumber To is a blatant rehash of the first film, that is largely because it is. Of course, that was quite possibly the entire point. Just as Daniels and Carrey sport the exact same haircuts and live in the exact same apartments, this idea of deliberate repetition is taken to such an extreme that it almost becomes a form of conceptual comedy. And yes, it rehashes several of the most famous moments from the first film. Never fear, you will get to hear what the second most annoying sound in the world is. Billy the Blind Kid gets a sizable cameo, as does the Shaggin’ Wagon.
So we are left with an interesting conundrum: is a movie that is intended to be imbecilic and offensive a good movie if it succeeds in being imbecilic and offensive? I suppose it depends on your personal tolerance for stupid humor. Mine is set rather low, but I willingly admit that there were several moments of the film that were laugh-out-loud funny. In fact, one particular scene where Harry and Lloyd arrive at the wrong address early on in their quest made me laugh harder than I have all year in a movie theater. So at the very least it can’t be argued that Dumb and Dumber To reused old jokes because the filmmakers weren’t smart or clever enough to write new material.
5/10
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