Review: The Farrelly Brothers' 'Dumb and Dumber To'

1994 was a hell of a year for Jim Carrey. In the span of 12 months the, then, relatively unknown actor released 3 $100 million dollar films with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. Time would prove Dumb and Dumber to be the most memorable and re-watchable film of the group. I’m struggling to think of a single scene that didn’t contain a quotable line. Fun fact, most of that was improvised by Carrey on set including my favorite, “We LANDED ON THE MOON!”. Twenty years and one horrible prequel later we have this weekend’s Dumb and Dumber To. This could have gone one of two ways, hilarious or dreadful, there was no middle ground. Thank the comedy Gods, Harry and Lloyd came back with a BANG! Twenty years after having his heart broken by Mary Samsonite (I’m still amazed by how well the throwback jokes worked) Lloyd is in a nursing home, having been there since the events of the last film. Harry (Jeff Daniels) has dutifully visited his buddy every day since. On the visit that starts the film we find out the Harry will no longer be visiting Lloyd as he has a medical condition that requires a kidney transplant, at which point Lloyd yells “GOTCHA!”…yup, he’s been faking a catatonic state for 20 years just to prank his buddy. The guys get right back to their old tricks and head out to find Harry a family member to donate a kidney. Their first stop is Harry’s parents where he finds out that his two Asian parents are not his biological parents and that he was adopted. Lucky for him they give him a 22 year old post card from Ms. French Tickler herself, Freida Felcher, saying that she’s pregnant. That’s where the road trip starts to find Harry’s illegitimate daughter.

I honestly gave this film 0 chance of being good. I just KNEW that I was going to be let down and have to tell all of you that our favorite idiots should have been left in the 90’s. Boy was I wrong. The movie is downright hilarious giving more laughs per minute than I’ve witnessed in at least a year. Obviously the laughs come from a lot of off-color and bathroom brand humor, so if that’s not your thing then you probably won’t have the same experience as I had, but if you liked the first this one will be right up your alley. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels pick right up with Harry and Lloyd as if there hadn’t been a 20 year break in between, other than the aging you’d think this sequel was filmed before the guys had a chance to get out of character. Every bit of the chemistry we saw before is there and in full swing. I could stop right there since everything else is inconsequential, side characters, plot, direction, these things could be lacking as long as Harry and Lloyd are on point. While you could definitely make an argument about the plot lacking (honestly…if you’re arguing plot you’ve already decided this movie isn’t for you) the side characters were surprisingly fun. Kathleen “I can’t believe I used to have a thing for her” Turner brings Freida Felcher out of her mysterious shroud and right into your face. Rob Riggle, who plays the villain (or is that villains), does exactly what Rob Riggle was made to do, play a supporting role that brings laughs from unexpected places…though I think his role was a bit more understated than usual as far as comedic content goes. The real stand-out among the new players had to be the adorable Rachel Melvin who plays Penny, Harry’s daughter and the end point of the plot. Her role, a pretty girl who is just as comically dumb as the leads, could have easily been immediately annoying had another actress taken it on. Melvin delivers the idiotic Penny to us in a way that is side-splittingly cute, like a puppy running full speed into a screen door. As a small aside to what the movie did right the throwbacks to the first film are done in such a way that feels organic, the way you may re-tell old jokes when hanging out with friends from your youth, as opposed to being in your face “Hey! Remember this!” moments. Honestly, that one aspect was one of the biggest accomplishments of the movie, I would have put money on them reusing all the old stuff and it just not working.

While I don’t really have anything bad to say about the film, at least not anything that should dissuade you from seeing it, there were a few things that I can’t put in the positive column. The first is just more of a depressing note and that’s how old the guys look, really more Carey then Daniel’s. Is that a critical assessment of the movie? No, but it is one of those realization moments when you look at yourself and say, “Damn…times they have a changed”. The second, also not a critical assessment, is that the film just doesn’t feel as iconic as the first. I probably laughed just as much and just as hard, but there weren’t many, if any, lines or scenes in which I thought “Yup, kids will be quoting that for years”. While I know audiences will have a great time with it, I don’t think there will be any of the cultural (or is that lack of cultural) impact of the first.

In a world where we are constantly disappointed by our fond memories coming back to life in ways far removed from what we remember I’m glad to say that Dumb and Dumber To does not disappoint. If you were even a casual fan of the first film you owe it to yourself to spend a quick 90 minutes with Harry and Lloyd. The only regret you’ll have will be the cramps you get from laughing so hard. 

Comedy Score: 4 out of 5 Guttenbergs

Film Score: 3 out of 5 Guttenbergs

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Contact the Other Side In the Trailer for 'Ouija'

I honestly am astounded by the fact that it's 2014 and we are just NOW getting a Ouija movie, it's such an obvious go to for the board game to movie genre. I don't know the history pre-The Exorcist but ever since little Reagan talked to Captain Howdy via one of these suckers I haven't come within a mile of one. Seriously, I remember kids saying they wanted to play with one of these at sleepovers when I was younger and then being immediately out voted because, why take the risk?

I was prepared to rip this trailer to shreds as a cheap Halloween money grab and maybe it is, but that doesn't stop the trailer from hitting all of the right notes to make me turn the lights on after watching it. Is it ground breaking? No. Does it look like pretty much every other horror film out there? Yes. Does that stop it from freaking you out? You know what...I'm not answering that, find out for yourself! The trailer is below, check it out and tell me you'd have no problem turning the lights out and going to sleep right now!

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Review: Lucy starring Scarlett Johannson and Morgan Freeman

The average person only users 10% of their brain, an interesting little trivia tidbit we’ve all heard before. It’s been proven incorrect by science but that’s beside the point…we don’t need science for our movie plots to work (I’m looking at you Jurassic Park franchise), also the film has a clever way to explain why this is different from the traditional 10% as they present it that we only use 10% of our brains capacity, simply meaning that we all use all of the parts of our brain, just not to the level or efficiency we could, similar to how my muscles have the same potential as a bodybuilders but are being held back by my comical aversion to physical activity. Enough preamble, let’s get to some plot, shall we?

Lucy (Scarlett Johannson) is a student in Taiwan with some questionable social circles. After being forced to deliver a suitcase to a crime lord by her obviously scummy boyfriend (seriously, in a movie with a telekinetic woman the fact that she’s dating this dude is the most unrealistic aspect), Lucy is kidnapped and drugged. She wakes to find that the bad guys have surgically implanted a bag of C4b3h2 (that’s a total guess, but it was something along those lines), a brand new designer drug, in her intestines. She’s then given a passport and ticket along with three other unwilling mules who will all be flown to different parts of Europe to distribute the drug. Unfortunately for Lucy the low level goons didn’t get the memo about a plastic bag of highly potent drugs being put in her stomach, so they proceed to kick her in the gut when she’s shackled in a holding room. The bag breaks releasing the drug in extremely high doses into her system, which causes severe toxicity leading to an almost immediate and painful death. Wait, that doesn’t seem right…OH, my mistake, she doesn’t die; she’s given superpowers as the drug unlocks the potential of her brain allowing her to use a higher and higher percentage. During all of this the film is intercut with scenes of Professor Samuel Norman speaking at a lecture on the potential of the human brain. Highlights include a step by step listing of possible abilities that come with a corresponding percentage, things like at 20% you can control your body completely, at 30% you can control other people, at 40% you can control machines and so on and so on.  Lucy becomes fixated on retrieving the rest of the drug packets and unlocking the full 100% as well as seeking revenge on the people that did this to her.

Scarlett Johannson is the shining light of this flick and it’s a good thing because without her there would be nothing. She actually gets to stretch some acting legs, believe it or not, as she goes from a convincingly trashy and unintelligent party girl to an intelligent robot on a mission. Maybe robot isn’t the best description for why her performance is something to see, as she begins starting to use more and more of her brain she adapts a performance style that seems very similar to how autism is usually portrayed in film with a far off look in her eyes that comes close to a blank expression but is different in a very slight way that makes you understand that she’s just got a lot more going on inside her head. The film plays quickly too, once the drugs enter her system the movie doesn’t slow down until the credits roll, which ends up being a saving grace since much of the movie makes little sense and doesn’t deliver on many of the promises made in the trailer. There is quite a bit of action but very little involves Lucy, once she becomes more powerful her interactions with the bad guys consist of waving her hand to make them all pass out, or levitate. There are some good gun battles involving the side characters and she does get to take the wheel in a car chase that Michael Bay would be jealous of, but that’s about it as far as ScarJo is concerned.

I think “weird” is probably the most apt description of the movie that I can come to, it’s not bad per say, it’s just very odd for the most part. I guess this is par for the course when you’re talking about a Luc Besson movie. The guy is heralded for his action and a good percentage of his films are widely enjoyed but there’s always an under belly of odd in his flicks. Look at The Professional, probably his most lauded film and for good reason, but at the base it’s a film about a hitman teaching his craft to a pre-teen girl whom he may or may not be in love with. To illustrate what I mean, one of the main “what?” aspects is how he intercuts scenes of nature to illustrate what’s going on in the story…so when Lucy is about to be kidnapped by the gangsters the film switches to a scene of an animal being stalked by a cheetah. Again, not a huge deal but it does take you out of the moment completely. Past that there are a number of logic jumps and missing points, such as how there’s zero learning curve with her new abilities and no “What’s happening to me?!?” moment, I guess that can be chalked up to the increase in understanding and brainpower or even something as simple as not slowing the film down. Lastly there’s the weird forced romantic angle between Lucy and the French cop who she’s paired up with in the second half of the film. Speaking of, the fact that she becomes a ruthless killer and breaks any number of laws including stealing drugs from the police, makes the ask no questions relationship between Lucy and the cop even more odd. I can forgive this kind of stuff with a movie like Crank that is, in no way, trying to be something serious, but Lucy is trying to say something profound…at least I think it is, honestly it’s kind of hard to tell. Let’s just say that the beginning and the end of the movie show a look at time from now to the first Neanderthal so at least the impression of something deep and large is there.

With the number of large budget, high-quality films out right now there’s no way I can, in good conscience, recommend you go to the theater for Lucy. It isn’t without its merits, and I do think some will enjoy it, but it’s strictly a rental. ScarJo is beautiful and talented so if that’s what you’re yearning for this weekend I’d say renting Under the Skin is a far better choice. 

2 Out of 5 Guttenbergs

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Review: Oculus starring Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites

For every ten standard horror films there’s one that breaks the mold, these are your SCREAMs and A Nightmare on Elm Street (believe it or not that movie was pretty groundbreaking when it came out).  I’m not saying Oculus is on the level of those genre-changing films but it’s definitely right up there. On the surface you have a movie about an evil mirror that kills those who look on it, past that you have a movie that seriously treads the line on “Is this all just a figment of a disturbed imagination?” Let’s do some plot, Alan Russell (Rory Cochran) buys a mirror without checking the provenance, which would have told him the prior owners had a nasty nack for dying badly. What follows is a long bit of “All Work and No Play Make Alan GO CRAZY” leading up to the sound of some shots going off and Alan and his wife Marie (Katee Sackoff) dead and all things looking like Alan just went nuts. Their children, Tim and Kaylie, are both shipped off to different places with Tim going to a mental institution after receiving the blame for his father’s death. After he is released Tim (Brenton Thwaites) meets up with his sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan). Tim has spent years learning that the mirror was only a creation of his mind to deal with his father’s descent into madness, while Kaylie has been able to focus her time directly into believing in an evil mirror.

This is where the film really takes off, horror movies always play with the idea that “It’s all in your head”, but usually it’s in the form of some distrusting authority figures who we’re not supposed to take seriously, this movie has one of the main characters casting doubt. If that doesn’t make the water murky enough the trip results in the telling of the back story intercut with real time in such a way that the two begin to overlap and we really do begin to question the motive of the movie. The non-linear storyline is a touch that really makes you feel what the characters are feeling, it pulls you in to such a jarring state that you can understand the heights they are willing to go to and that they are having a hard time trusting their own eyes. Isn’t that everyone’s deepest fear, really? To not be able to trust your own senses knowing that you’re so sure of something but there’s an outside chance that you may just be losing your mind.  That’s a downright amazing touch right there…because it’s only when you feel truly safe that you can be properly scared.

This sounds like a very non-traditional horror movie, where are the scares? Don’t worry about that, there are more than enough creepy faces where there shouldn’t be and standard jump scares as well…but done in the right way. I’ve really found that jump scares are a necessity in horror films but you have to do them properly, in a not completely obvious way. Honestly though, it’s the psychological impact of Oculus that will leave you with the lights on, not the cheap scares.

I think Oculus, while not for everybody, is a must for all fans of the horror genre. This flick is the next in a progression of smarter horror films like Drag Me To Hell, or Cabin in the Woods. There is so much more to the film than I’ve even listed here, for the sanctity of spoiler-free, but as you slowly find yourself learning the truth of what happened that night you only go further down the rabbit hole. You’ll want to come back for more which, box office depending, was left wide open in the most clichéd part of the film…the final shot sequel establisher!

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