Universal Pictures
Another lifetime ago, Jim Carrey was set to star in a modern Three Stooges movie, presumably running on his side and slapping himself as Curly Howard. As we all know, the Farrelly Brothers film got put through the development blender and came out on the other side an equally foolish yet watered down project. A devolution from bizarrely fascinating experiment to DTV-esque.
Watching the Dumb and Dumber To trailer, it’s hard not to imagine that the Farrellys should have stuck with the stooges they knew all along. The smart idiocy, the “Whose On First?”-ism, the delightful pratfalls. They’ve essentially made their third Stooges movie. Their second featuring The Two Stooges. Their stooges.
Obviously a lot of real life got in the way of getting a sequel to Harry and Lloyd’s original adventure (which was also the Farrellys original adventure in feature filmmaking), and a decades-later sequel will almost always feel like creatives heading back to the well, but with this trailer it’s easy to see that (at least) they’ve taken the comedy seriously.
The most remarkable thing about the trailer is that it lets the scenes breathe. Carrey and Jeff Daniels aren’t spitting out rapid fire gags hoping we’re distracted enough to laugh. There’s a great confidence in what they’re doing – particularly that cell phone routine near the end.
There’s also another reason this trailer feels fresh, and it may seem odd. You’ll notice Rob Riggle hanging out in the background, but otherwise the movie is devoid of the Apatow/This Is The End/SNL crossover crowd that is contractually obligated to be in every single modern comedy. That group is fantastic, but it’ll be refreshing to see a comedy where they aren’t filling out every supporting role.
Want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?
You’ll have to wait for Dumb and Dumber To to hit theaters on November 14th (just in time for Awards Season!).