Surprisingly soulful and dare I say it, intelligent, gross-out comedy from the Farrelly Brothers, the same sick weirdo's who brought us Kingpin, Dumb & Dumber and Me, Myself and Irene. Ben Stiller (Mystery Men) is Ted Stroehmann, a high school geek whose big chance of eternal happiness is ruined by an unfortunate zipper incident minutes before he's to take gorgeous Mary (Cameron Diaz) to their senior prom. 13 years later he's still obsessed with her and hires private eye Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down. Things become complicated when Healy falls in love with Mary too and tells Ted a whole bunch of lies precipitating his tracking down of her himself.
There are several moments of wackiness, all so well documented it's not worth my time going over them again, but each and every one hits home with a laugh. It's not a gag a minute film and there are many moments of tender seriousness but when it's called upon to deliver a joke it rarely fails. My personal favourite scene is when Ted has been arrested by the police for what he thinks is illegally picking up a hitchhiker, but which turns out to be a little more serious.
Diaz copes well enough but is clearly not that much of a comic actress while Dillon, Stiller and Lee Evans are left to handle all the major funny bits. Stiller especially is excellent, flitting from straight man to physical comedy with natural ease. Other Farrelly regulars like Chris Elliott, Willie Garson and Harland Williams round off an accomplished cast of deadpan comedy actors and with a script as 'clever' as this one each has plenty of material to make the most of. Whatever you do, watch till the end credits as the clips shown are hilarious. |
