Dumb and Dumber/Dumb and Dumberer

To avoid confusion, I emphasis the second movie's title as "DumberER", just to acknowledge the imbecilic suggestion for a sequel title. Originally, I was suppose to review just "Dumb and DumberER", but somehow no video store in my area has it. I found this double feature set instead (no bonus features, just the films only), and decided rather than to chastise another comedy, I decided to compare these two films to understand the fond memories I had with the first movie and how the second film manage to be dumb for unironic reasons.

"Dumber" has Jeff Daniels and then-rising comedian Jim Carrey carry the roles of two knuckleheads Harry and Lloyd. While their antics are cleverly dumb than actually dumb (something I spoke strongly against before), I can excuse that because the actors are very funny due to the great amount of spontaneity they give to their characters. "DumberER" has two relatively unknown actors playing younger versions of Harry and Lloyd. Although they succeed in looking the part of the original characters, they lack the charm and energy that Carrey and Daniels manage to deliver in their roles.

The plot in "Dumber" has the lead characters going to different locations across the nation, while inadvertently fending off devious criminals with a case of stolen money. Since "DumberER" is a prequel, the leads go to high school where they met the first time and be involved in a principal's scam (Eugene Levy) to use a special ed class to extort money, a principal who keeps all his master plans in a conspicuous chest where only dumb people would find and ruin him; the premise sounded too closely like that one Scooby-Doo TV movie.

"Dumber" has the mockingbird scene as one of its memorable hilarious moments. The only thing "DumberER" has as a memorable (but not hilarious) moment is Bob Saget saying 'crap' ad nauseum when Harry wipe chocolate in his house, as it lacks any genuinely funny jokes. What's worse, the prequel reused a couple of gags from the first movie, like the gasoline scene or the ending with the hot chicks asking for the duo a ride; they're less homage and more rip-off.

Many songs used in "Dumber" fit the contemporary setting. "DumberER" took place in 1986, and it had two anachronistic songs: one is a Vanilla Ice track from the 1990s, and a Good Charlotte track from the 2000s.

"Dumb and Dumber" is a high standard of dumb comedies, a solid cast with a fine set of directors (The Farelly Brothers) who wanted to go nuts and have fun with it. "Dumb and DumberER" is a unnecessary worthless piece of junk, shamelessly cash-grabbed by fanboys at best and desperate businessmen at worst. 4 stars for "Dumber", 2 stars for "DumberER".

Dumb and Dumber was hilarious and immediately a classic. Dumb and Dumberer not so much but a great price for what you get

The first movie is funny, but putting it with one of the worst movies of the last decade. I don't think that right. I as most people get the original by itself. The second is a B rated movie with I would say F rated actors. Simply terrible. At no price would I put this in my collection.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 3 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars