There's Something About Mary
Cast
N/A
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #2
6/10. 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.
Running time: ? minutes
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