Dumb & Dumber (1994)

Directed by Peter Farrelly, Dumb & Dumber is, depending upon your unique sensibilties regarding humor, either one of the worst movies ever made or a comedic classic. I fall into the latter camp, and have laughed my ass off every single time I've seen it...and by now, that's probably a number approaching 35. Or more. I lost track a few years ago. But every time it's on, I stop channel surfing and remain glued and giggling for the remainder of the film.

The plot is simple...a complete and utter doofus and his equally doofusie best friend get caught up in a kidnapping scheme and travel cross-country in attempt to return an item to a beautiful woman.

Jim Carrey plays Lloyd Christmas, a limo driver with a horrible bowl haircut and a badly chipped tooth (from what I've read, that's a REAL chip and Carrey had a cap removed just for the flick) and an IQ that can't top 75 on his best day. He meets Mary Swanson (played by Lauren Holly), falls immediately in love, and winds up with her briefcase. What Lloyd DOESN'T know is that the briefcase contains a ton of cash intended as a ransom payment.

Jeff Daniels is Harry Dunne, Lloyd's best friend and intelectual equal. He runs his own grooming business, Mutt Cuts, out of his remodeled van...think Oscar Myer Weiner truck but with a giant furry coating and dog head. Lloyd and Harry fondly call it the 'Shaggin' Wagon'.

Harry and Lloyd share an apartment, are broker than broke, and have no job prospects...so they decide to take off to Aspen to find Mary and return her briefcase. Along the way, they find much adventure and opportunity to do stupid things...my favorites include them tricking a very angry trucker into paying for their meal instead of beating the crap out of them, trying to stop a PA trooper from drinking the pee in Lloyd's empty beer bottles when he stops them on suspicion of DUI, and...gosh, I could go on all day.

Hot on their trail are JP Shay (Karen Duffy) and Joe 'Mental' Mentaliano (Mike Starr), hired by the kidnappers to get the briefcase back. Joe pretends his car is inoperable and hitches a ride with Harry and Lloyd, and again we come to one of my favorites...Lloyd asks Joe if he wants to hear the most annoying sound ever and makes this...I don't even know what to call it...noise that alone is worth the cost of renting the movie. Throw in Harry and Lloyd dueting Mockingbird...and then add a family of illegals also hitching who only say 'yeah' for every word of the song...let the hilarity ensue.

Harry and Lloyd wind up taking some wrong turns, have a fight and run out of cash and go their separate ways for a while...reunited on a moped, they decide to complete their mission and get to Aspen frozen solid. Another argument happens over a pair of gloves when the boys are outside freezing, Harry tosses the briefcase...and it opens, money pouring out everywhere. They decide that Mary won't mind if they borrow some, so they leave IOU's for whatever they take and start spending like madmen and living the Aspen lifestyle.

They attend a benefit, dressed in orange and baby blue tuxedos, in order to find Mary. When Harry meets her, he falls for her too...and the fellows are suddenly battling for the same woman. Lloyd finds out that Harry has been secretly meeting Mary behind his back and has a date with her, and he sneaks a ton of Exlax into him...Harry arrives at Mary's ready to explode, and winds up in a bathroom with a broken toilet crapping his brains out, making enough noise to rouse the dead. Not for everyone, but this sort of humor amuses me on a base level I can't quite describe.

I won't ruin the ending on you...and belive me, the whole movie is LOADED with so much more than I've mentioned. Perfect for a rainy afternoon when you're feeling a little down or sorry for yourself, and make sure you rent it the first time out so you don't miss anything that gets cut for TV. Once you see it, it will surely become one of your favorites too.