A Film A Day: Peter Farrelly

Green Book (2018)

Although I had read good things about it, specifically about Ali's performance, I wasn't planning on seeing Green Book, in part because it's a Peter Farrelly movie, in part because of all the controversies. Then my cinema decided to have a free preview screening —last time they did this it was 2015 and the movie was Paul Feig's Spy— and I decided to go.

Set in 1962, the film follows an uneducated racist Italian-American, Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), who, after losing his job as a bouncer, becomes the driver of a well educated African-American classical pianist, Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), and takes him on a concert tour into the deep South.

Cast

Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Rob Riggle, Laurie Holden, Kathleen Turner, Steve Tom, Rachel Melvin, Paul Blackthorne, Brady Bluhm, Dalton E Gray, Swizz Beatz, Bill Murray, Derek Holland, Mama June, Cam Neely

Storyline

Twenty years after the events surrounding their trip to Aspen, buddies Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) are back and go on a road trip to find Harry's newly discovered daughter (Rachel Melvin), who was given up for adoption.

Opinion

Perhaps my expectation were too high, I don't know, but I have been completely disappointed by this one, and the only thing I could think as the movie ended was, couldn't Lloyd keep on faking? It would have been so much better.

So Dumb and Dumber To does have its moments, like a few moments, but it's bland most of the time, and the humour isn't good as seemed in the first installment.

If Dumb and Dumber was cleverly stupid, this one is just stupid. There is no direction. The story is awful, not to talk about the subplots. The poor script is stuffed with farts, jokes that are literally the same as the original's, and recycled gags that doesn't work at all.

The acting is probably the most disappointing part. While Jim Carrey is just a comedian, we know that, and we are fine with that, Jeff Daniels, who has been working on more serious roles recently that also got him an Emmy, is a real disappointment. And the chemistry between the two "buddies" is gone.

In the beginning Lloyd says, "Comedy is all about timing.". I wonder if he was mocking the film.

Dumb and Dumber (1994)

Genre

Comedy

Directors

Peter Farrelly | Bobby Farrelly

Country

United States

Cast

Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly, Mike Starr, Karen Duffy, Charles Rocket, Victoria Rowell, Hank Brandt, Teri Garr, Felton Perry, Brad Lockerman, Cam Neely, Harland Williams, Lin Shaye

Plot

Providence, Rhode Island. Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey), a dumb limo driver, shares the apartment with his friend Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels), a dumb dog groomer. They are saving up their money to open a pet store called "I Got Worms".

On day Lloyd falls in love with Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly), a woman he is driving to the airport, and after she intentionally leaves a briefcase in the terminal, he retrieves it and tries to return it to her, but her Aspen-bound plane has already departed.

Fired from his job, Lloyd returns to his apartment and learns that Harry has also been fired. Two criminals, Mental (Mike Starr) and J.P. Shay (Karen Duffy), which were supposed to collect the briefcase, follow Lloyd home, and mistaking them for debt collectors, Lloyd and Harry flee the apartment and return later to find that Mental and Shay have decapitated Harry's parakeet. Upset about their situation, Lloyd suggests they head to Aspen to find Mary and return the briefcase. At first Harry refuses but soon sees reason and the pair soon head out to Aspen in Harry's dog-like van.