Dumb and Dumber To

Sporadically affable but mostly pointless, Dumb and Dumber To follows best friends Harry (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Jim Carrey) as they embark on a road trip to track down Harry’s adult daughter (Rachel Melvin’s Penny). It’s clear immediately that filmmakers Peter and Bobby Farrelly are simply unable to replicate the low-key charm of 1994’s Dumb and Dumber, as the sequel, though watchable, suffers from an almost relentlessly over-the-top feel that drains the viewer’s interest to an increasingly problematic degree – with the movie’s underwhelming atmosphere perpetuated by a curious absence of laughs. (There are, all told, perhaps two or three moments that manage to elicit a solid chuckle.) It’s ultimately clear that Carrey and Daniels’ ineffective work lies at the heart of Dumb and Dumber To‘s failure, as the two actors are simply unable to convincingly step back into the shoes of their iconic characters (ie these hardly seem like the same figures that effortlessly romped through the original film). And while there are a few amusing moments sprinkled throughout the movie’s overlong running time, Dumb and Dumber To has been hard-wired with an air of desperation that proves more and more difficult to overlook – with the film’s growing emphasis on a tedious crime-oriented subplot, presumably included to echo to the original’s kidnapping narrative, only compounding the progressively lackluster atmosphere. The end result is a typically irrelevant comedy sequel that abandons almost everything that worked in its predecessor, which is a shame, really, given the enduring success of the thoroughly enjoyable first film.

** out of ****