IT'S PLENTY 'DUMB' ENOUGH.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic THERE HAS BEEN a debate in the entertainment coverage community as to whether ``Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd,'' the prequel pre·quel n. A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative takes place before that of a preexisting work or a sequel. [pre- + (se)quel.] to 1994's stupid comedy hit ``Dumb & Dumber,'' was being promoted in a way that deceived fans into believing that the original film's stars, Jim Carrey “James Carrey” redirects here. For the murder conspirator, see James Carey. James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian actor and comedian. and Jeff Daniels For other persons of this name, see . Jeffrey "Jeff" Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, musician and playwright. Biography Early life , appear in the knockoff knock·off n. Informal An unauthorized copy or imitation, as of designer clothing: "the place to go for quality knockoffs" Women's Wear Daily. Noun 1. . Oxymoronic as addressing movie marketing ethics Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing. Some areas of marketing ethics (ethics of advertising and promotion) overlap with media ethics. may be, I halfheartedly took the what's-the-problem position. The film's title itself, after all, indicates that it takes place prior to the original, and all the posters add, ``Before the first movie, there was high school.'' How could anyone, then, mistakenly assume that a decade-older Carrey and Daniels would be reprising their roles? Now that I've seen ``Dumb and Dumberer'' and know what audience it's targeting, I'd guess a number of ticket-buyers may be easily duped. Then again, they might just come out of the movie thinking that they saw Carrey and Daniels in teenage drag. Anyway, that's the level this dumber-than-dirt comedy operates on. Needless to say, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the ingeniously bent brothers behind the original ``D&D,'' came nowhere near this edition, either. And it shows - painfully so. There is a knack to crafting both stupid and grotesque comedy smartly, and the Farrellys have it. This tired mess's creative team - director Troy Miller (``Jack Frost'') and his co-writer Robert Brener - possess neither the imagination nor the timing instinct to make lengthy-yet-lite stretches of people acting disgustingly dopey seem amusing. Unless you're, maybe, 11. Or think that Carrey got a really good Botox job for this. Actually, the movie does do something very right. Young actors Eric Christian Olsen Eric Christian Olsen (born May 31, 1977) is an American actor. Biography Early life Olsen was born in Eugene, Oregon to Jeanne, a chaplain, and Paul Olsen, a professor. and Derek Richardson Derek Richardson (born January 18, 1976) is an American actor. Biography Richardson was born in Queensbury, New York.[1] He began his career with guest roles on Law & Order and Strangers With Candy. are uncannily convincing as the youthful versions of, respectively, Carrey's Lloyd Christmas and Daniels' Harry Dunne. They not only get the physical resemblances and the demented (Olsen) and dazed daze tr.v. dazed, daz·ing, daz·es 1. To stun, as with a heavy blow or shock; stupefy. 2. To dazzle, as with strong light. n. A stunned or bewildered condition. (Richardson) gazes down perfectly, but each actor expertly channels the very spirits from the previous incarnations, not to mention their range of personality quirks. It really is a shame that such hard-working, talented kids weren't afforded the inspired humor they deserved to riff on. What they got is a plot about how the pals, well, met (Harry, the result of home schooling home schooling, the practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. In most cases, one or both of the children's parents serve as the teachers. , bangs into the school janitor's son Lloyd on his way to a real campus for the first time). When crooked Principal Collins (Eugene Levy - and even this comic on a roll is reduced to sub-Earl Camembert schtick schtick n. Variant of shtick. Noun 1. schtick - (Yiddish) a little; a piece; "give him a shtik cake"; "he's a shtik crazy"; "he played a shtik Beethoven" schtik, shtick, shtik by the film's lack of ingenuity) sees how idiotic they are together, he hatches a scam to make off with a $100,000 grant by building a special needs students program around them. Collins places his mistress, lunch lady Heller (``Saturday Night Live's'' Cheri Oteri, unfunny in movies once again), in charge of the motley class of slackers Lloyd and Harry recruit to share in their specialness. Cute, ambitious school newspaper reporter Jessica (Abercrombie & Fitch model Rachel Nichols) smells a rat. Both Lloyd and Harry mistake her efforts to get information out of them for romantic hints. This tests the strength of their friendship. Well, that and Lloyd's conviction that Harry's widowed mom (Mimi Rogers, smiling through and retaining a shred of dignity) has the hots for him. Attempted jokes involve repeated games of tag, drinking Slushees fast enough to trigger brain freeze and a scene involving a bathroom, a radiator and a Hershey Bar (as candy-coated an imitation of the first film's laxative laxative, drug or other substance used to stimulate the action of the intestines in eliminating waste from the body. The term laxative usually refers to a mild-acting substance; substances of increasingly drastic action are known as cathartics, purgatives, gag as it is, this is still ``Dumberer's'' funniest sequence). The closing credits' mirthless outtake out·take n. 1. a. A section or scene, as of a movie, that is filmed but not used in the final version. b. A complete version, as of a recording, that is dropped in favor of another version. 2. reel indicates that whole subplots were cut. Considering what's made it to the screen, it's hard to imagine anything could have been that dumberest. Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670 bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com DUMB AND DUMBERER: WHEN HARRY MET LLOYD - One and one half stars (PG-13: language, mild violence) Starring: Eric Christian Olsen, Derek Richardson, Rachel Nichols, Cheri Oteri, Eugene Levy, Mimi Rogers, Luis Guzman. Director: Troy Miller. Running time: 1 hr. 22 min. Playing: Citywide. In a nutshell: Probably funny to the almost adolescent audience it's aimed at, this high school-set prequel to the Farrelly brothers' gross-out comedy is neither gross nor funny enough for more, ahem, sophisticated tastes. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Eric Christian Olsen, left, and Derek Richardson do a credible job of channeling Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, respectively, in ``Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.'' |
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