DUMB AND DUMBER - DVD review

The Farrelly brothers have made a name for themselves creating comedy out of some of the most over the top, absurdly amusing antics of people who don't normally get the limelight. These include stalkers, idiots, the handicapped, the obese and even Siamese twins. For the directing team, the more "out there" the better. "Dumb and Dumber" put them on the comedy map, and while the movie isn't a work of genius, it remains one of their best and a very funny film. There's just something about the sheer zaniness of the film, of Harry and Lloyd's (Jeff Daniels and Jim Carey) they really should know better antics that just works as plain dumb fun.

The story follows the exploits of Harry (Daniels) and Lloyd (Carey), who work as a dog-groomer and limo driver, respectively. One particular day, a beautiful red head named Mary (Lauren Holly) leaves a brief case full of money in the back seat of Lloyd's limo. Being that Lloyd is completely smitten with Mary he takes it upon himself, and his fellow moronic chum, to find Mary and return the case to her. Little does the ditzy duo realize that the case is full of ransom money Mary was leaving behind for a pair thugs, who work for the man who has kidnapped Mary's husband. Still, nothing can stop Harry and Lloyd from hoping in Harry's dog costumed car and trekking cross country to Aspen to return the case.

Along the way the pair encounters a myriad of obstacles that might keep them from their goal. One of the most entertaining of these segments is their encounter with a trucker named Sea Bass (Cam Neely), who terrorizes them at a diner stop. The thugs (played by Karen Duffy and Mike Starr) also provide an amusing set of obstacles as they mistake Harry and Lloyd for a couple of genius assassins hired by Mary's family to send the kidnappers a message. Not even traveling the final leg of their journey aboard a kid sized scooter will prevent them from returning the money to Mary, after all she is the love of Lloyd's life.

The film belongs to Carey and Daniels the whole way. Together they present a sort of manic hilarity that, while at times feeling overwhelming, is a great comedic pairing. The Carey we have here is well before he turned to drama. Here he displays a zany, physical presence that he was most known for (this was the guy who excelled at talking out of his butt). Daniels also has many moments that work as an excellent foil for Carey's antics. Daniels' Harry is much more subdued than Lloyd and Daniels gives him an underlying sense of sincerity that would be other wise squashed and he holds his own against Carey with the broad comedy.

"Dumb and Dumber: Unrated" adds a few more minutes of running time that expands on some of the preexisting scenes already in the movie. These scenes include the sequence where Harry and Lloyd are at the gas station and Harry first encounters flirtation with the undercover agent. One of the other additions is to Harry's now infamous diarrhea scene (which makes the scene all that much more gross and offensive). None of this really adds or takes a way from the film in any real way but give the viewer an additional laugh here and another groan there.

Video:

"Dub and Dumber: Unrated " is presented in a 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio. The picture is very sharp, with colors really popping out throughout the presentation. There wasn't any noticeable grain or damage, with the overall look appearing very clean. Colors really come through, with blacks coming off very strong, solid and deep throughout. To say the least, this transfer looks solid.

Audio:

The DVD presents us with both an English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix and an English language DTS-ES 6.1 Surround Sound mix. Both of these sound very good but considering this isn't exactly an audio driven film there is little difference between the two sound mixes, with the exception of the DTS mix giving a little more thump in the subwoofer area. Most of the film is dialogue heavy and comes through the front channels in a crisp and clean fashion. The rears are most often employed for the use of sound effects and music. Overall both mixes sound wonderful. The DVD also comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. English closed captioning is also available along with subtitles in French and Spanish.

Extras:

"Still Dumb After All These Years" is look back at the making of the film. The 18 minute mini-documentary is filled with interviews with the Farrelly Brothers, Jeff Daniels and the film's producers who take us through the casting decisions, how difficult it was to sell the idea to certain studios and the working relationship between Daniels and Carey. Although Carey isn't interviewed there are a few behind the scenes clips of his antics that are weaved into the featurette.

Deleted/Alternate Scenes: There are also twelve deleted and/or alternate scenes (including two alternate endings) that weren't used in any version of the film and total over 30 minutes of running time. The highlights of which include a deleted scenes and shots montage with Jeff Daniels. Daniels introduces the material which focuses on Harry's exploits in the film. These include a discussion about seatbelts between Lloyd and Harry, there is also more on Petey, the dead bird, some more footage of Harry and Lloyd trying to make sense of a road map, some expanded footage from the scene in the Mexican restaurant, and much, much more. There is also an alternate version of the scene between Lloyd and Seabass, which runs nearly 4 minutes in length. The scene plays out a bit differently than in the final version and it amusing to see this alternate version here.

Rounding out the extras on this disc are two faux trailers for "Dumb and Dumber", the real trailer for the film, a television spot, and some promos and trailers for other New Line DVD releases.

Film Value:

Despite the lack of audio commentary from either the Farrelly Brothers, Daniels or Carey, New Line has gathered a decent amount of extras, though more could have been brought to the table in regards to the behind the scenes antics and making of the film. The Farrelly's have always been known for humor that borders on the grotesque. Plainly the laughs are over the top, and this is what they excel at. With this in mind, the comedy is all sophomoric, toilet humor, which shines in this film. "Dumb and Dumber" plants the seeds of what was to come for the brothers and their comedic stylings. Later films, like "Shallow Hal", "Stuck On You" and "There's Something About Mary" would push the limits of what they could pull off and call funny. They started their career on a high note and with the exception of "There's Something About Mary" it's disappointing that they haven't been able to retain such a high level hilarity in their subsequent movies. To say the least, "Dumb and Dumber" remains one of their best.