Mary à tout prix

When this film came out with all of the PR and things, I hated it. I hated it without even seeing it. Then, as with many movies, I caught this on Digital Cable TV, by accident. I had NO intention of seeing it, but once I did, I cannot tell you how much I loved it.

This is the Farrley Brothers at their funniest. The idea is simple, a guy (Ben Stiller) who had a crush on a woman (Carmen Diaz) he knew since high school and continued to yearn for her privately, finally getting an opportunity to try to reconnect what never got going. This is something almost everyone can identify with.

What makes this work...is its a dead-on hard hitting comedy. The Farrley Brothers spared no one: male or female, handicapped or able bodied, black or white, rich or poor, job or not, straight or gay, animal or vegetable, blonde or brunette, educated or not. It is NOT a cinematic masterpiece so don't look for one, it is not a punch line comedy or slapstick comedy, it is sophomore humor done very well because you're going to be laughing at what you think you shouldn't no matter how much you want to say you would never laugh at something like that.

Plus the Farrley Brothers added in "some things" that...well... may have just happened to you at some point in your adolecence, and put a comedic/gross quality to it that shocks you into laughing at it. All through the film you might laugh because you're thinking, "Better them than me".....even if it was you!

Not for eveyone's taste, even those who think they know comedy, but this is that kinda comedy that is hard to do once you've reached maturity and forgotten what it was like to laugh at simple things. This is as simple as it gets. Don't put too much into it, it is what it is, and to me, it was really funny! Good Show!

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.

Thats the way the world is unfortunately. There are two types of people those who love movies like this beacuse they are very funny and those who don't because they have a manner which means they have to look for problems wherever they look (Read politicians, minority groups). There really is no need to go and see a movie like this if you want to come out and complain. You've seen their previous movies, don't buy a ticket. The deal with the Farrellys is that they understand that if something is funny then it should be laughed at. Someone falls over, laugh. Don't go and help him up. Mary has the ability to make the viewer laugh. More than once and more frequently than not. In my opinion that makes a comedy a good comedy. I truly believe that you stick any old actors into brilliant material and situations as are in mary then you will laugh. That being said though the ensemble really do pull together and play off each other to startling effect and even the Farrelly regulars have some great moments. Lee Evans in particular has broken America and looks to have a bright future ahead of him in film. Stiller is Stellar and Diaz a bombshell once more. Even Matt Dillon proves 'I can do comedy'.

A lot of my friends said they hated this, but after i saw it and loved what I saw, it became apparent that many of these people hadn't seen it, they just KNEW they would hate it from the degradingly mysoginistic slapstick it supposedly represented. Sorry, wrong movie. This is a classic satire, replete with balladeer narrator. The gags flow fast and funny and expertly walk the tightrope between politically incorrect and unkind. This is surprisingly a movie that is very true to itself and its characters with a lot of plotlines that tie up nicely in unusual ways. And, it's a feel-good movie too. Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller are marvelous together in the leads.

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.