Film Reviews

Dumb and Dumberer

• Director:
• Starring: Derek Richardson
• Details: US / 82 mins / (12PG).

My God, what have we done to deserve this? Almost nine years after the Farrelly brothers invented the gross out comedy genre with Dumb and Dumber, someone - in their infinite wisdom, natch - has reckoned that what the world needs right now is a prequel to these rip-snorting gross out antics. The plot - in so far as there is - follows Harry (Derek Richardson) and Lloyd (Eric Christian Olsen) as they attempt to negotiate the pitfalls of high school. Of course as far as a conventional narrative goes that's about as good as it gets in Dumb and Dumberer, as the film is basically an excuse for a depressingly similar series of gross out gags that reaches an artistic nadir with a reworking of a particularly gruesome bathroom sequence. The director shows precious little ability with his visually timid filmmaking style, while there's no sense of style when it comes to the delivery of the humour. Indeed, to call the humour juvenile is almost paying it a backhanded compliment. Displaying no real wit or even comedic insight, the material is shockingly one-dimensional and idiotic. To their dubious credit, the two lead actors display almost no regard for their future careers by appearing in this and you can't fault their foolhardy ambition. This is about as close a compliment as Dumb and Dumberer deserves.

Review by Garreth Murphy