Categories: Movie ReviewReviews

Movie Review: ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ Keep Harry and Lloyd Still in the Game

Preston Barta // Editor

DUMB AND DUMBER TO | 110 min. | Rated PG-13 | Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly | Stars: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob RiggleLaurie Holden, Rachel Melvin, Steve Tom, Don Lake, Patricia FrenchBrady Bluhm and Kathleen Turner

Bringing back beloved characters after a long absence is a difficult task to pull off successfully, because as fans we develop big expectations and rarely are they ever met. However, DUMB AND DUMBER TO proves that the Farrelly brothers still have a little juice left in their boasters. So, saddle up, partner.

After 20 years, we find Harry (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) on another road trip to find Harry’s newly discover daughter, who was given up for adoption.

So, yeah. The story is practically the same. Eh, but we knew that not much work was going to be done with the story, and should we really care? Not really. If you’re like me, you just want to see this movie for the jokes and witness what shenanigans Harry and Lloyd get into. Does it deliver on that front? Yes, to a certain degree. The laughs and creative comedy may not come a mile a minute like the original 1994 did (it goes outside reality a tad), but this sequel is far better than disaster we anticipated.

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels return to the big screen as Lloyd and Harry in Dumb and Dumber To. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Don’t get me wrong, this movie is still quite ridiculous. There are times where they push the envelop too far: a cat farting feathers, toe sucking… it gets pretty bad. But we half-expected that the Farrelly brothers would do so, because the duo hasn’t really thrown any comedies that have stuck since 2001’s SHALLOW HAL. They capitalized on d*ck and fart jokes, and it got old quick. But this time with DUMB AND DUMBER TO, the Farrellys blend their old style with their new style, resulting in a mixed bag that ultimately has enough laughs to keep Harry and Lloyd still in the game. You’d be lying if you didn’t walk away quoting a few of the lines spoken in this movie.

DUMB AND DUMBER TO opens today.

Preston Barta

I have been working as a film journalist since 2010, dividing the first four years between radio broadcasting and entertainment writing in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. In 2014, I entered Fresh Fiction (FreshFiction.tv) as the features editor. The following year, I stepped into the film critic position at the Denton Record-Chronicle, a daily North Texas print publication. My time is dedicated to writing theatrical film reviews, at-home entertainment columns, and conducting interviews with on-screen talent and filmmakers, as well as hosting a podcast devoted to genre filmmaking (called My Bloody Podcast). I've been married for ten happy years, and I have one son who is all about dinosaurs just like his dad.

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