‘Dumb And Dumber To’
By John Lyons
‘Dumb And Dumber To’.
THIS week Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels have returned with their bad hair cuts, juvenile sense of humour and an impeccable sense of timing (20 years, to be precise) in a sequel to ‘Dumb And Dumber’.
If there was an award for ‘Trailer most shown in cinemas in 2014’, ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ would claim it. I’ve seen the trailer for this film every single time I’ve went to the cinema for the past two months.
Having watched the trailer with people many, many times, I noticed something again and again.
The first time someone would see it, they’d laugh at all the jokes. The second time however, they’d roll their eyes and mumble “Ugh, this looks stupid.”
So I figured, instead of jumping on the bandwagon and immediately pre-judging the film, I’ll go see the film and give it it’s own day in court. Who knows? It might even be good…
Unfortunately I should’ve just saved myself the time.
If your idea of a Christmas outing is watching two grown men beat a dead horse that died over 20 years ago then look no further than ‘Dumb And Dumber To’.
All of the gags and memorable one-liners from the first film are shamelessly repeated here.
In fact, it would be easy to confuse a review for ‘Dumb & Dumber To’ with an old review for ‘Dumb & Dumber’, because even the plot is almost identical.
Harry and Lloyd must journey across the country in order to return a package to a pretty girl that Lloyd is in love with.
However, they cross paths with a bunch of criminals who have hatched a plan to steal millions of dollars from a rich family.
The duo even inadvertently (and obliviously) manage to kill a villain who’s trying to assassinate them and have another encounter with an undercover sting operation.
Usually, it’s not fair to include spoilers in a review, but since I’m spoiling plot points for a film that was released 20 years ago, and the sequel merely copies the exact same plot structure, I think that exceptions can be made.
The only way in which this film differs is that it has slightly more of an extensive plot than the first.
Harry is on the waiting list for a kidney, but he probably won’t get one in time. But after the pair find a 20 year old letter informing them that Harry is about to be a dad, they set out to find Harry’s grown up daughter to ask her for a kidney donation.
There’s a few odd laughs here and there but not nearly enough to warrant a two hour film.
As well as this, there’s nowhere near enough new content to make a compelling argument to get up and go see this in the cinema instead of just watching the original ‘Dumb And Dumber’ at home.
‘Dumb And Dumber To’ is a sequel that nobody asked for, a sequel that’s arrived far too late, and a sequel takes pride in ripping off its predecessor, which wasn’t even a good film to begin with.
4/10
Follow John Lyons on Twitter: @Fireinthelyons
