Film (1994)

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Published: 12:00am, 1 Apr 2012

Dumb and Dumber
Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly
Director: Peter and Bobby Farrelly

Never has there been such an ingenious combination of fools as Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey).

This pair of juvenile idiots are no-hopers who embark on a cross-country mission to return a briefcase to a beautiful woman, Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly), who apparently forgot it at the airport after Lloyd (an airport limo driver, until he gets fired) dropped her off. However, by rushing to the rescue, Lloyd inadvertently intercepts what was actually a ransom drop-off, grabbing the briefcase before the bad guys can.

From one blunder to another, this film is the very definition of a comedy of errors, with happy-go-lucky Harry and Lloyd at the helm. They are the ultimate fools, completely lacking in judgment and social skills, goofing around as they travel - all the while remaining oblivious to the fact that the suitcase is stuffed with cash and the bad guys are hot on the tail of their dog-shaped van. When they eventually discover the dosh, they replace the money with IOUs that they fully, and foolishly, intend to honour.

Despite the trouble they land themselves in, they are fun-loving, good-hearted guys trying to do the right thing. It just so happens that they are also incredibly stupid; so slow-minded, it's cringeworthy. They verge on being delinquent - and the film's directors, the Farrelly brothers (Peter and Bobby, though only Peter was credited) - were condemned by some critics for making light of disability (a charge levelled at a number of their films, including Shallow Hal and Stuck on You).

But for all the un-PC humour, Harry and Lloyd's larks and slapstick pranks pack the perfect punchlines at precisely the right moments. They make a barber collapse unconscious, thinking he has cut Lloyd's jugular; they accidentally kill a rare snowy owl at a charity convention; and find themselves responsible for the death of one of their pursuers when he keels over from the spicy chilli they plant in his burger.