[REVIEW] ‘Dumb and Dumber To’: We Waited 20 Years to See the Same Movie

The 90s were a special time. TV shows like Saturday Night Live and In Living Color hit a fabulous stride that opened the door for a slew of totally eccentric, out-of-this-world comedies that warped a generation and set a standard for the genre!

In 1994 we were given Dumb and Dumber. The story of two guys who set off on a journey to return a brief case to a beautiful girl. Little do they know, the contents of the case is worth millions and there are bad guys who are trying to steel its contents for a mighty large pay off.

This year, in 2014, we are given the follow up: Dumb and Dumber To. The story of the same two guys who set off on a journey to return a box to a beautiful girl. The contents of the box is worth billions and there are bad guys who are trying to steel it’s contents for a mighty large pay off.

It was the exact same story with the exact same jokes rehashed the exact same way just with a cast that is 20 years older. The original Dumb and Dumber has quotes that still have relevance in my daily life so when I heard they were making the sequel, the idea of seeing Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne in action again was both appealing and, like with most sequels we didn’t ask for, a little disappointing. I was right to be disappointed.

My guest and I wanted this to be funny. We both had very fond memories of movies like the original, Tommy Boy, Billy Madison, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Even though we were ready to laugh we only found one new joke to be funny. At least with the sequel to Ace Ventura they knew to change to storyline. Here, to cover up the lack of creativity, they just went cruder.

I understand what they were going for. “Harry and Lloyd are so dumb that even after 20 years they are still getting themselves into the same problems” or “Dumb and Dumber for a new generation! The first one worked…” Even the ending credits pointed out the similarities of the two, but as instead of making me feel nostalgic and happy, as I’m sure was what they wanted, I felt very let down and just wished I would have spent the last 110 minutes watching the original.

I look at the successful comedies of today like Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, just to name a few, and this just falls so short. Today we expect much more. I feel like audiences today have advanced to expect a smarter dumb humor. Wow, isn’t that comforting? We’ve advanced past Dumb and Dumber!

…Well, sort of.

★