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There's Something About Mary (1998): 6/10

Poster (c) 20th Century Fox

Why is it that bad taste and offensive material is acceptable if there are some morals thrown in? People rarely question this, as it's especially true in movies made by the Farrelly brothers, known for their bad taste in such movies as Dumb and Dumber. If people laugh, they forget that what they're laughing at is offensive. And while there is a little bit of clean humor in There's Something About Mary, it's few and far between as jokes involving at least three bodily functions are shown, mentally retarded people are ridiculed (but not as much as you may think), and fake dogs are injured (but not killed). It's another day in the life of a Farrelly brother.

Ted (Ben Stiller), as a somewhat nerdy high schooler in the 80s, is going to the prom with popular girl Mary (Cameron Diaz), but an unfortunate accident has Ted going to the hospital. Thirteen years later, Ted still hasn't gotten over Mary, so he hires private investigator Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to find out about her. Pat discovers that there's "something about Mary" and falls in love with her. Ted now has to go to Florida to stop Pat, but gets into a lot of zany mishaps along the way.

Mary works, but in moderation. It seems like the only time it goes for the full comedic effect and works is during the truly inspired scenes. The bathroom scene in the beginning is great-that, and the first "dog/speed" scene are the only two that had me cracking up for the whole scene. The rest of the movie had a laugh or two, but not really that much. The "hair gel" part seemed to over-the-top to be even remotely believable. There's some good characters, like Magda (Lin Shaye) and Dom (Chris Elliot) that have their moments, but none of them even stand out. Diaz does what she does, playing a level-headed, all-around nice person, and Stiller playing his slightly-nebbish person perfectly, but it's either that or some weird over-the-top guy (like Zoolander or Dodgeball).

The romantic parts of the movie worked for what they were meant to do, which was further the humor. I suppose I bought the relationship between Stiller and Diaz, although Dillon's over-the-top character was more realistic in his fascination with Mary. But, since Dillon wasn't in either of the aforementioned scenes, he didn't evoke many laughs. Mary's 2 hour runtime went by pretty quickly, and I suppose when you have a runtime like that, being entertaining is more important than being funny, and that's obviously the case with Mary, although it's not its intention.

Rated R for strong comic sexual content and language.

Review Date: August 20, 2004