Film

There's Something About Mary (1998)

Director: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Critics are supposed to be immune to bad taste, but this film from the Farrelly brothers is as bad as it gets. Stiller stars as the geeky Ted, still hooked on his high school dream girl ten years after their prom date ended in humiliation and hospitalisation. Prompted by a wandering romantic troubadour, Ted sets seedy private investigator Healy (Dillon) on the case. He tracks down Mary (Diaz) in Miami, but falling for her himself, he tries to throw Ted off the scent. The ploy doesn't work, and the two men vie for her affections, with Evans' crippled Tucker also sticking his crutch in. You wouldn't expect discretion, subtlety or anything politically correct from the makers of Dumb & Dumber, and you don't get it. The gross out humour here includes Stiller getting caught in his zip; Dillon giving mouth-to-mouth to Diaz's long-suffering dog; Stiller masturbating prior to his big date (and losing the evidence); and all sorts of jokes at the expense of the halt and the lame. Funnily enough, the one thing the Farrellys don't find funny is Mary - hair gel apart, Diaz is gamely reduced to playing straight gal throughout. So there you are: crude, offensive, sexist - and embarrassingly hilarious.

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