June
13, 2003 | When is a sequel not a sequel? When it's a "prequel,"
a critic-speak term coined to describe the likes of Butch and Sundance:
The Early Days or The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. Very
much like those unmemorable retreads, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry
Met Lloyd is the work of filmmakers who seek to exploit the popularity
of a name-brand film by inventing back stories for characters originally
played by older, better known and, presumably, better paid actors.
In
this case, newcomers Derek Richardson and Eric Christian Olsen are employed
as younger versions of the dim bulbs originally played by Jim Carrey
and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber, the imbecilic but astonishingly
popular 1994 comedy co-directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly (who went
on to make Kingpin, There's Something About Mary and other, much
funnier comedies).
The
conspicuous absence of Carrey and Daniels tends to make Dumb and
Dumberer look and feel like a down-market, penny-pinched
sitcom spin-off (or, worse, a direct-to-video rip-off). Still, the new
lead players earn points for the often uncanny accuracy of their mimicry
as they play teen-age versions of the earlier movie's grown-up chuckleheads.
With almost frightening zeal, Olsen reprises Carrey's chipped-tooth
smile and Moe Howard coiffure as Lloyd Christmas, while Richardson,
like Daniels, keeps his hair frizzy and his eyes glassy as Harry Dunne.
Both actors (especially Olsen) flawlessly replicate the body language
and physical shtick of their predecessors.
Director
Troy Miller, working from a script he co-wrote with Robert Brener, does
relatively little to tinker with the game plan used so successfully
by the Farrelly brothers in the '94 crowd-pleaser. Indeed, a few of
the prequel's comic set pieces - including a gross-out sight gag in
a bathroom and a wink-wink, nudge-nudge ironic ending - are smudged
carbons of similar scenes in Dumb and Dumber.
Compared
to the aggressively obnoxious '94 original, Dumb and Dumberer
is slightly more restrained - i.e., less scatological - and not quite
so dependent on borderline sadism. Ironically, however, the new
movie possibly will catch more flak, and perhaps even ignite protests,
due to its perverse insistence on portraying of Harry and Lloyd as not
merely dumb, but mentally challenged.
The
wispy plot involves a corrupt high school principal (Eugene Levy) who
figures to pocket a $100,000 grant by establishing a phony "special
needs" class. Harry and Lloyd are selected as especially needy
students, and they're soon joined by "normal" classmates eager
to scam their way into a stress-free, no-homework comfort zone.
It's
true, of course, that low-brow, gross-out comedies of this sort traditionally
wring laughs from subjects and situations that aren't usually joked
about in polite company. But gags about special needs programs (and
special needs students) in a mainstream popcorn flick may be too much
even for the most indulgent audiences to accept. Don't be surprised
if there are picket lines at the megaplexes this week.