Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

A prequel to 1994’s Dumb and Dumber, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd follows Derek Richardson’s Harry and Eric Christian Olsen’s Lloyd as they meet in high school and eventually cross paths with an evil, scheming administrator (Eugene Levy’s Principal Collins). It’s an appealing premise that is, for the most part, employed to frustratingly lackluster effect, as filmmaker Troy Miller, working from his and Robert Brener’s script, delivers a seriously hit and miss comedy that’s increasingly more the latter than the former – with the mediocre atmosphere due mostly to an ongoing emphasis on jokes and comedic set pieces of an entirely questionable nature. There’s little doubt, as well, that Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd’s less-than-spellbinding vibe is perpetuated by the leads’ competent but rather grating efforts, as the actors’ dogged attempts at aping their predecessors’ memorable work ensures that their respective characters come off as weak carbon copies more than anything else – which would be fine if either performer were able to wring any laughs out of the stale material. And although the picture has been peppered with a very small handful of amusing sequences, including (and especially) a funny Cyrano-inspired bit of silliness, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd builds towards an underwhelming and rather exhausting final stretch that ensures it concludes on a far-from-captivating note – thus cementing the picture’s place as a fairly needless endeavor that squanders the potential afforded by its predecessor.

** out of ****