by MARK SLUTSKY

What a strange movie this Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd is. It’s been nearly a decade since the original, Dumb and Dumber, sparked the Farrelly brothers comedy phenomenon; now that their moment has arguably passed, here comes this prequel cash-in. The Farrellys didn’t direct, write or produce Dumb and Dumberer—actually, they seem to have had nothing to do with it.

Adding to the ripoff sense is the fact that Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels haven’t even returned to reprise their roles. Instead, younger look-a-likes Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson, respectively, fill their roles in this prequel, set during our heroes’ high school years. They’re made up to look exactly like Carrey and Daniels, and they do bear a strong resemblance, which makes watching this movie confusing, at best. Carrey is the biggest comic star in the world—an entire movie’s worth of someone imitating his mannerisms is just weird.

The plot of Dumb and Dumberer is unnecessarily complex—something to do with Olsen and Richardson being placed in a Special Ed class, which the principal (Eugene Levy, not counting for much) is using to embezzle money. Of course the plot is just a prop for the filmmakers to hang their jokes on. The gags are all conceived according to the Farrellys’ sweet-natured gross-out formula, and probably about as funny as most of the fraternal team’s recent output, which isn’t saying much. People fart, run into things, fall down, unabashedly embarrass themselves in front of their peer groups—you know the drill.

The best thing I can say about this movie is that everyone seems to be trying really hard. You’ve got to feel for the poor kids they picked for the leads—and to their credit, they throw themselves into their roles with a lot of gusto. The movie also looks somewhat slicker than most tossed-off comedies these days, if that means anything to you. This is likely due to the fact that Dumb and Dumberer reportedly cost almost twice as much as the original. Which is just depressing.

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
opens Friday, June 13

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