“So sneak peak, I’m working on revamping my Top 100. Long overdue, I know. The list is pretty much finalized, but I’m doing some work on the post (that will hopefully be completed by the time this one posts). Anyways, I say that because this is the one movie currently on there that doesn’t already have some associated post. What’s the point in being on my favorites list if I’m not gonna use that as an excuse to watch?
I first saw this movie much younger than I should have. There were definitely a lot of adult themes I was rather scandalized by. Yet third grade me could appreciate a lot of the silly sight gags and purely puerile phrases pouring from our leads. Watching now, I get how ironic it is that a film called Dumb and Dumber about two really really not smart people is one of the smartest screenplays that has ever made it to the screen.
I say it’s smart because of how it all fits together. Every misstep the characters take is somehow exactly what they need to advance themselves, and they don’t even realize it. When I was 9, I took everything they said at face value, and laughed at that. Now that I’m, um, older than 9, I see the next layer of the jokes. It’s brilliant.
Also brilliant are the performances from Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels. They play into the script perfectly, and somehow manage to make their characters ones that you root for. They’re over the top, but never too much. It’s such a hard line to toe, and few have ever managed the feat. Over twenty years later, I’m still laughing at everything they do, no matter how many times I’d seen it before.”