| Dumb and Dumber | |
|---|---|
 Home video release poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Farrelly |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Mark Irwin |
| Edited by | Christopher Greenbury |
| Music by | Todd Rundgren |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17 million[3] |
| Box office | $247.3 million[4] |
Dumb and Dumber is a 1994 Americanroadbuddy comedy film directed byPeter Farrelly,[1][2] who cowrote the screenplay withhis brother Bobby and Bennett Yellin. It is the first installment in theDumb and Dumber franchise. StarringJim Carrey andJeff Daniels, it tells the story of Lloyd Christmas (Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Daniels), two dumb but well-meaning friends fromProvidence, Rhode Island, who set out on a cross-country road trip toAspen, Colorado, to return a briefcase full of money to its owner, unaware it was actually left as a ransom.Lauren Holly,Karen Duffy,Mike Starr,Charles Rocket, andTeri Garr play supporting roles.
The film was released byNew Line Cinema on December 16, 1994. It received mixed reviews from critics, and was a commercial success, grossing $247 million against a $17 million budget.[4] The success ofDumb and Dumber launched the career of the Farrelly brothers, established the range of the heretofore dramatically acclaimed Daniels as a gifted comedic actor and revitalized his Hollywood career,[5] and solidified Carrey's reputation as one of the most prominent actors of the 1990s.[6] It has since developed acult following.[7] The film also spawned ananimated TV series, a2003 prequel, and a2014 sequel.
Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne are two good-hearted but dimwitted best friends and roommates living inProvidence, Rhode Island. Lloyd, achip-toothed limousine driver, is instantly smitten with his passenger Mary Swanson, who is flying toAspen, Colorado. She leaves a briefcase in the airport and Lloyd attempts to return it, unaware it contains ransom money she has left for criminals Joe "Mental" Mentalino and J. P. Shay. Her plane has already departed, and Lloyd falls out of thejetway.
Fired for leaving the scene of an accident, Lloyd returns home to learn that Harry, adog groomer, has also been fired for showing up late to a dog show with the dogs covered in food. Mental and Shay follow Lloyd home, but he and Harry mistake the crooks fordebt collectors and flee, returning later to find Harry'sparakeet has been decapitated. Lloyd convinces Harry that they should return Mary's briefcase, and they set off for Aspen in Harry's dog-styled van.
Mental poses as ahitchhiker and is picked up by Harry and Lloyd, who annoy him with their childish antics. Stopping for lunch, Mental plans to slip the duorat poison pills, but they prank him by puttingchili peppers in his burger, aggravating hisstomach ulcer. Mistaking the pills for his medication, they inadvertently kill him with the poison but continue their trip.
At a gas station, Harry flirts with fellow Aspen-bound driver Beth, and unwittingly saves Lloyd from being assaulted by Sea Bass, a trucker they offended earlier. Police wait to intercept the duo on the road toColorado, but Lloyd takes a wrong turn and drives all night throughNebraska. Harry gives up on the journey, but Lloyd persuades him to continue after trading their van for aminibike.
The duo arrives in Aspen but cannot find Mary, and a frustrated Harry attacks Lloyd, breaking open the briefcase and discovering the money, which they use on a hotel suite and lavish spending spree. They read in the newspaper that Mary and her family are hosting a charity gala, where a nervous Lloyd asks Harry to talk to her on his behalf. However, Harry agrees to goskiing with Mary instead, lying to Lloyd that he arranged a date for him.
While Harry and Mary have an enjoyable time together, Lloyd waits at the hotel bar and encounters Beth. Visiting Mary's home, he realizes that Harry lied to spend the day with her himself. In retaliation, Lloyd serves him coffee laced withlaxatives, causing Harry to have diarrhea in Mary's broken toilet, while Lloyd reintroduces himself to Mary. Taking her to the hotel to return the briefcase, he confesses his love for her, but she rejects him.
Nicholas Andre, a friend of the Swanson family, arrives, from whom Lloyd learns that Mary has a husband named Bobby, and that the money was for him, revealing himself as the mastermind behind the kidnapping. Nicholas holds them at gunpoint and is furious to discover that Harry and Lloyd spent the ransom, replacing it withIOUs. Harry arrives and after a brief confrontation with Lloyd over Mary is shot by Nicholas, and plays dead before ineptly returning fire. AnFBI team bursts in, led by Beth, revealing that she's an agent on the kidnappers' case and prepared Harry with abulletproof vest and gun. Nicholas and Shay are arrested, and Mary and Bobby are reunited, much to Lloyd's dismay.
With their trip rendered pointless and their hopes for the trip crushed, Harry and Lloyd travel home on foot, after all their purchases were confiscated and their minibike broke down. They encounter a busload of bikini models on a national tour, but ignorantly reject an offer to be their "oil boys". Harry tells Lloyd that they will get their "break" one day, and they play a game oftag as they walk back toRhode Island.
John Hughes conceived the film before he sold it to the Farrelly brothers and asked for his name to be removed from the writing credits.[8] His concept was namedSki Nuts and was about "two dumb guys inAspen".[9] The Farrelly brothers had been trying for years to get their first movie made. Director Peter's agent encouraged him to make a movie himself, alongside his brother Bobby.
The Farrelly brothers did not know whoJim Carrey was; they were only told that he was "The White Guy" onIn Living Color. Only after a screening of Carrey's first major acting role,Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, did they become interested in casting him. Based on the box office success ofAce Ventura, Carrey was able to negotiate a salary of $7 million for this film.[10]
Nicolas Cage, who was proposed to be Carrey's co-star, tried to negotiate a $2 million increase in his fee butNew Line Cinema decided against casting him and signedJeff Daniels instead.[11] Cage said he turned it down to doLeaving Las Vegas instead.[12] Daniels was only paid around $50,000. New Line Cinema originally did not want Daniels in the film, as he was known only for his dramatic work at the time. However, the Farrellys and Carrey wanted Daniels for the part. Although New Line Cinema agreed to their demands, Daniels was offered the low salary in the hopes it would discourage him from signing on to the film. Daniels ultimately accepted the role, despite his agent reportedly dissuading him out of fears it would kill his career.[13]
100 actors turned down the role of Lloyd, includingSteve Martin andMartin Short.[14][15] According toSplitsider,Gary Oldman and Cage were the original choices for Lloyd and Harry.[16]Chris Elliott andRob Lowe were both also considered for the role of Harry.[16] Lauren Holly was cast as she heard Carrey and Daniels were going to be in the film.[17] Carrey's chipped tooth was genuine, resulting from a fight with a classmate in his childhood, but he had since had itcapped. He simply had the crown temporarily removed from that tooth to portray Lloyd.[18]
Scenes taking place in Aspen were filmed inBreckenridge, Colorado andPark City, Utah.The Stanley Hotel inEstes Park, Colorado was transformed into the "Danbury Hotel" for the filming of the movie. The "Danbury Hotel" bar scene and staircase shot were the shots filmed there. The scenes filmed in the snow were shot atCopper Mountain Resort, Colorado.[19] Some of the external street scenes were filmed inSalt Lake City, and the airport scene was filmed atSalt Lake City International Airport.[20] Some scenes from the beginning of the film were shot on location in theProvidence metropolitan area, including shots of the skyline and theBig Blue Bug; scenes from the beginning of their road trip were shot in locations inCumberland, Rhode Island.[21] Parts of the film were also shot inOgden, Utah andAmerican Fork Canyon.[22]
The score forDumb and Dumber was composed byTodd Rundgren, whom director Peter Farrelly would later say "did an awesome job" but "didn't quite get the movie". Rundgren also contributed the songCan We Still Be Friends? to the film.[23]
| Dumb and Dumber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | November 22, 1994 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Length | 46:51 |
| Label | RCA |
| Producer | Various Artists |
| Singles from Dumb and Dumber: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
| |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Smash Hits |   [24] |
The original soundtrack to the film was released byRCA Records on November 22, 1994.[25] The soundtrack album's first single, "New Age Girl" byDeadeye Dick, was a chart hit, reaching number 27 in the US, while the music video for theCrash Test Dummies' version of "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" featured Jeff Daniels reprising his role of Harry.[26]
The soundtrack album has generally seen positive reception from critics. Joe Bishop ofVice named the album his favorite movie soundtrack, while the same site's Cameron Matthews described it as "a perfect slice of the mid-'90s sound: bubbly pop rock with jangly chords and just enough grit, or aka the thing you can give your kids when they one day ask you what the '90s were like".[26][27]
Though not present on the soundtrack, the film famously features Carrey and Daniels singing ana cappella version of "Mockingbird" to Mike Starr's character.[26] Also missing on the soundtrack isApache Indian's "Boom Shack-A-Lak", which accompanies the film's opening sequence, as well as several other songs appearing in the film. Songs not included on the soundtrack are "Red Right Hand" byNick Cave & the Bad Seeds, "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" byThe Cowsills, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies, "Oh, Pretty Woman" byRoy Orbison, "Can We Still Be Friends?" byTodd Rundgren and "Rollin' Down the Hill" byThe Rembrandts.
Beck had been approached about including his song "Loser" on the soundtrack, but he refused. He recalled the process: "I remember getting a phone call one day. My manager said, 'There's a film. They want to use 'Loser' as the theme song'. There was a long pause, and he said, 'The name of the film isDumb And Dumber. And I just remember: That sums up what the world thinks of me at this point. I tried to have fun with it, tried to not take it too serious. But at the same time, it was a little disheartening sometimes."[28]
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" | Crash Test Dummies featuringEllen Reid | |
| 2. | "New Age Girl" | Deadeye Dick | |
| 3. | "Insomniac" | Echobelly | |
| 4. | "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)" | Pete Droge | |
| 5. | "Crash – The '95 Mix" | The Primitives | |
| 6. | "Whiney, Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy)" | Willi One Blood | |
| 7. | "Where I Find My Heaven" | Gigolo Aunts | |
| 8. | "Hurdy Gurdy Man" | Butthole Surfers | |
| 9. | "Too Much of a Good Thing" | The Sons featuring Bret Reilly | |
| 10. | "The Bear Song" | Green Jelly | |
| 11. | "Take" | The Lupins | |
| 12. | "You Sexy Thing" | Deee-Lite | |
| 13. | "Get Ready" | The Proclaimers |
Dumb and Dumber opened at No. 1 in its opening weekend, earning $16.4 million.[29] It went on to gross $127,175,374 in the United States, and $247,275,374 worldwide, and topping the holiday season film gross.[30]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 70% of 53 surveyed critics gaveDumb and Dumber a positive review. The site's consensus reads: "A relentlessly stupid comedy elevated by its main actors: Jim Carrey goes bonkers and Jeff Daniels carries himself admirably in anagainst-type performance".[31] OnMetacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, it has a score of 41 based on reviews from 14 critics, which indicates "mixed or average" reviews.[32] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[33]
Roger Ebert gave the film two of four stars for the hit-or-miss comedic elements, but praised the performances of Carrey and Daniels, dubbing the former a "true original", and writing that the dead parakeet joke "made me laugh so loudly I embarrassed myself. I just couldn't stop".[34] Stephen Holden ofThe New York Times called Carrey "the newJerry Lewis",[35] and Peter Stack of theSan Francisco Chronicle called it "riotous", "rib-splitting", and gave the film praise for being both a crude and slapstick comedy and a "smart comedy" at the same time.[36]
AlthoughDumb and Dumber did not secure any major American film awards, it was successful at the1995 MTV Movie Awards. Carrey won for Best Comic Performance, Carrey and Holly (a couple who would later endure a short-lived marriage) won for Best Kiss, and Carrey and Daniels were nominated for Best On-Screen Duo. In 2000, readers ofTotal Film magazine votedDumb and Dumber the fifth greatest comedy film of all time. The film ranks 445th onEmpire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.[37]
In 1995, aHanna-Barbera-produced animated series aired onABC, as part of its Saturday morning cartoon lineup;Matt Frewer provided the voice of Lloyd, whileBill Fagerbakke voiced Harry. In the cartoon, Harry and Lloyd have reacquired their van, now named "Otto". The cartoon also features a new character, Kitty, a female pet purple beaver who appears to be smarter than both men. The animated series was written by Bennett Yellin, co-writer of the film, and was cancelled after one season.
In 2003, aprequel was theatrically released, entitledDumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. The film featured a cast and crew different from the previous film, and the Farrelly brothers had no involvement in the film's production. It was panned by critics, receiving a 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[43] It grossed approximately $39.2 million worldwide against a $19 million budget, as opposed to the original film's far greater $247 million worldwide gross against a $17 million budget.[44]
The Farrelly brothers returned to make asequel toDumb and Dumber.[45] The sequel, titledDumb and Dumber To, was shot in the fall of 2013. Carrey and Daniels returned, with Bobby and Peter Farrelly directing, along with original screenwriter Bennett Yellin. Actors reprising their roles from the first film includeBrady Bluhm, who played Billy in (Apartment) 4C, andCam Neely, who played Sea Bass.Dumb and Dumber To was released on November 14, 2014.[46] Compared to the original film,Dumb and Dumber To was met with mixed reviews from critics, although it did well commercially.Dumb and Dumber To was not released byWarner Bros. Pictures (who now owns New Line Cinema), but rather byUniversal Pictures.[47] New Line was given studio credit from Universal.[48]
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