As a big fan of Dumb and Dumber, I went into Dumb and Dumber To trying not to let wistfulness paint the sequel too positively. Those worries quickly dissipated, as To is a forced and aggressively unfunny gross-out comedy. It's the absolute worst kind of sequel: the kind that repeats old jokes to try and get a cheap cheer of nostalgia. All the while, laziness and overt offensiveness abound, with jokes never reaching higher than the lowest of low hanging fruit. It disappoints completely, like a desperate old rock singer trying to hit the same notes he used to, but consistently falling flat. While the first was a brilliantly inspired bit of comedic stupidity, Dumb and Dumber To is just plain stupid. We find our puerile protagonists older but none-the wiser, still getting in over their heads yet unwittingly finding their way through it. Plot is not the movie's aim, and it doesn't need to be. What it does need to be, however, is funny. Unfortunately the jokes are understandably irreverent, yet also socially inept and rarely successful. Worst of all is that Daniels' Harry and Carrey's Lloyd have completely lost the chemistry that once bound them. They've become purely sad parodies of their former selves. Maybe I'm taking this too seriously. I mean, the Farrelly's have proved to be nothing more than perpetual 10-year-olds, and they manage one or two moments of contrived laughter. But one or two laughs in a 100-minute movie just isn't enough. Clearly the filmmakers think the audience is as dumb as their leads. We're not.
Review of Dumb and Dumber To
