Mary à tout prix

Whenver we refer to modern comedies I think we have to go all the way back to "There's Something About Mary" to see where this all started. It set the new standards for comedy and also became a much imitated movie. Movies however very rarely reached the level of this movie ever again, including all of the Farrelly brothers own later work.

It's the sort of raunchy comedy, that makes some completely inappropriate jokes and makes for instance fun of both psychically and mentally handicapped people, among many other things. This is the foremost reason why some people can't really stand this movie but luckily most others are able to see the talent and effort that were put into making this movie and why the movie works out so well.

As strange as it sounds, it's actually a real subtle done comedy. It's not predictable in any way and the build up and execution of it is spot on. It even makes all of the moments, that usually seem like something totally lame and forced, work out as something hilarious.

It also has a great, yet very simple premise, of a bunch of guys all falling for the same girl. It's the sort of story that provides the movie with plenty of silly comical moments, in which the characters lie and constantly are backstabbing each other, all to get the girl in the end.

Cameron Diaz forms the perfect centerpiece for this movie and the movie is filled with plenty of comical characters, all played by some capable genre actors. This movie is still from the time when it was cool to like Ben Stiller and yes, he also really is perfect in his role. But basically everyone is perfectly cast in this, which is obviously also a reason why the movie and all of its comedy works out so well.

Comedies like this only seem to come once every 10 years, or so.

8/10

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Insanely off the wall comedy from the Farrelly Brothers that delivers from start to finish. Wonderful early sequence with Keith David as Diaz's father busting heavily braced Stiller's chops. Stiller's zipper scene goes down as one of the funniest and most painful things I have ever witnessed on film. Diaz is divine the woman of Stiller's dreams...Dillon is hired to find Diaz...He falls in love with her and gives Stiller a bum story... Lee Evans, a pizza boy, is in love with her too... then Brett Favre comes into the picture. Every scene has something memorable from Dillon's attempts at reviving a dog to Stiller's "pre date entertainment." A classic that doesn't take itself too seriously.

I desperately wish that the Farelly brothers would go back to doing gross-out comedies like they did with Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, Me, Myself, and Irene, and this. This is by far the best of all their movies. There are three kinds of comedy. Comedies that make you smile (Sixteen Candles), comedies that make you laugh (Airplane), and comedies that cause you to nearly asphyxiate yourself from laughing so hard. This is one of those rare third category movies. With the friends I watched it with, the laughs sounded like nuclear bombs going off in my room. It's that funny.

Thirteen years ago, Ted (Ben Stiller) landed a prom date with the most popular and beautiful girl in school, Mary (Cameron Diaz). Unfortunately, the date wasn't meant to be, for Ted has his manhood damaged right in front of Mary, and ends up in the hospital instead of the prom.

Thirteen years later, Ted decides to track Mary down, and have a second chance with his dream girl. He hires sleazy private eye, Pat (Matt Dillon)to find her for him. Pat finds her, and she's grown up beautiful. Pat decides he wants to date her. He stalks her, finds out everything she wants in a man, and poses as just that. Meanwhile, Ted has been led to believe that Mary has become fat white trash in a wheelchair. Pat and Mary start dating.

Well, by the end of the movie, every man who is involved in the story has tried to make a move on Mary. We all know how it ends, but it's one funny ride. One thing about this movie that's commendable is how the mentally retarded character is treated. He is treated in a way that isn't rude, or offensive. Mary sticks up for him, and he's really innocent. The funniest gag in the movie involves a NEW brand of HAIR GEL (compliments of Ted, and tested by Mary). I won't tell you what's really being mistaken for hair gel, but when you find out, you'll laugh so hard, you gag. This movie knows what a comedy of this type should be like. Each gag goes somewhere, and is really big. They're usually extended scenes with punchlines. Me, Myself, and Irene goes for the cheapest laughs you can find, but There's Something About Mary takes it's time, carefully planning each gag, in order to make it gut-bustingly hilarious. That's just what this movie is. 10/10.

It is rated R for Strong Comic Sexual Content, and Language. Sex: 8/10 Violence: 3/10 Swearing: 9/10 Drugs: 2/10

There's Something About Mary (1998)

**** (out of 4)

I remember seeing this film on opening night at the very first screening. The place was about full and I really wasn't sure what to expect from the film but I went in since it was the only movie playing that I hadn't already seen. From the opening scene to the end it hit me as a masterpiece and I think it still stands as one of the greatest comedies ever made. About half of the crowd members in that first showing walked out in disgust and one even asked me how I could laugh at such things but I went back and watched it four more times and it seemed, weeks after its release, people finally got what was so special about the movie. This is one of the few comedies that keeps my eyes watered up from laughing so hard. The hilarious prom sequence, the drugged up dog, the wacky group of characters and the hilarious jail sequence. There are so many hilarious moments in this film that I think it deserves it's statue as a classic. Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans and Chris Elliott are all wonderful in the film and all of them have the perfect comedy timing to really make all of their characters blend together well. I also think Keith David, as Mary's stepfather, doesn't get the credit he deserves because the hysterical prom sequence gets a lot of laughs due to his humor. The gross out nature of the film is something that was original and of crouse ripped off in future years. After this film was released we started getting all sorts of "gross" comedies but I think the majority of them missed the boat because they didn't realize that this film had a very big heart, which helped the movie.

There's definitely something about this film. When I saw this film, I was thinking of The Wedding Singer because both movies were set relatively the same time and both lead actresses happened to be blonde.

I thought Ben Stiller played an excellent character in Ted as he tried locate the girl he had a crush on in high school. Cameron Diaz was superb in her role as Mary and the actor who played her brother was an excellent addition to the movie because he played his part as a disabled man really well. I'm not a real huge Matt Dillon fan and his role in this movie didn't do much to change my mind. He was very despicable as the sleazy private investigator who has the task of tracking the high school crush down; however, what he doesn't tell Ted when he does find her makes this film more interesting.

Who would think that this film has twists that would blow the audience away; it does and not just one, it has two. These twists are really something of a shock, especially to me who was not expecting it to occur the way it did.

Overall, this film was enjoyable I wouldn't mind seeing it a second time.