There's Something About Mary (1998)

reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz


THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (director/writer: Peter and Bobby Farrelly; screenwriter: Ed Decter/John J. Strauss; cinematographer: Mark Irwin; cast: Ben Stiller (Ted), Cameron Diaz (Mary), Matt Dillon (Healy), Chris Elliott (Dom), Lin Shaye (Magda), Lee Evans (Tucker), Jeffrey Tambor (Sully), W. Earl Brown (Warren), Markie Post (Mary's Mom), Keith David (Mary's Stepfather), Jonathan Richman (Singer), Brett Favre (Brett), 1998)

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

There's Something About Mary is a very funny film; it makes the most out of being politically incorrect, profane, obnoxious, and settling for an unsophististicated juvenile humor to tide itself over while the romantic side of its tale fizzles. It makes fun of the retarded, abuses a pet dog to a point of near death, and makes no apology for being so crude. There are many other things that the film does wrong, but the bottom line is that it is funny in a way that is not mean-spirited. If the film could be faulted, it is because it runs too long and seemed sluggish at times, and the romantic tale was pointless.

It starts in Rhode Island, 1985, when the teenage sad sack, Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller), is looking for a date to the prom after being cruelly rejected by a calculating co-ed. But his luck soon changes, as he is asked to the prom by the perfect girl, the heartthrob of the high school, Mary Jensen (Cameron Diaz), when Ted defends her retarded brother Warren (W. Earl Brown) who is being picked on. But his prom date turns out to be a disaster. When picking up Mary in her house, he is unmercifully ribbed by Mary's black stepfather (Keith) and then beaten up by Warren (Ted had touched Warren's ears and Warren doesn't let anyone touch his ears). Ted then excuses himself to go to the bathroom and is staring at two birds by the window, when they fly away he is spotted by Mary as she is undressing and she thinks he is scoping her. Ted is startled to see her look of disgust and catches himself in his zipper, which results in a hilarious bit, where he is taken to the hospital and misses the prom. It is funny because it is so grossly done that, at first, it is hard to believe how far this tasteless gag is going, but it is taken to the hilt, as the police and fire departments arrive and the neighborhood gets to see an unusual occurrence, it even ends with the showing of the wounded private part.

It is now 13 years later in Rhode Island and Ted is a lonely writer, telling his slimy friend Dom (Chris Elliott) that he hasn't seen the one girl he loves in all that time, only knowing that she moved to Miami Beach. Dom talks him into getting a private eye who works in his place to go down there and see if he can locate her for him. The sleazy investigator, Pat Healy (Matt Dillon), finds Mary in Miami and falls for her, so much so, that he quits his job in Rhode Island and moves to Miami to romance her. To find out what she's like and what's she looking for in a guy, he eavesdrops on her conversations, using a hidden microphone and thusly sets himself up to become her dream man. That will become the running gag for the remainder of the movie. But, he is so crude, that even though he knows exactly what she wants, he still blows it but acting like a jerk.

Ted is able to find out that the private detective lied to him about Mary and decides to drive down there by himself to see her. When he picks up a weirdo hitchhiker and can't take his rap anymore stopping by the road in South Carolina to relieve himself, he stumbles upon a homosexual orgy and is arrested on a live TV program, which his friend Dom sees. He will go down there to help Ted, who is now being charged with not only indecent exposure but of being a serial murderer, as the hitchhiker fled the car leaving his bag with chopped up body parts on the front seat. But he is soon cleared of the charges and ends up in Miami with Dom.

There are some more phony admirers of Mary, led by the deceptive Tucker (Lee Evans), who acts as a crippled architect, befriending the very naive Mary and by duplicitous means getting rid of the boys she's interested in. The combination of these three suitors--the sincere nerd, Ted, and the pencil-thin mustached private eye charlatan, and the limber scoundrel Tucker-- all play well off each other. Football player Brett Favre also gets into the game as a suitor of Mary, and there are a few other twists in the story which are so-so funny.

Many of the grossly funny bits work to various degrees; such as, drugging the dog with speed, mocking the mentally retarded kid, having the results of masturbation be used unwittingly by Mary as hair gel, a Chris Elliott with zits all over his face, and the withered bare breasts of an old woman. What didn't work was how stupid and low the comedy had to go to get its laughs and the whole romantic scene, that without the comedy would have been a tedious watch.

This raunchy comedy, created by the Farrelly brothers, who gave us Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin, is a winner only for those who don't mind being grossed out. I must confess, I laughed a lot during the film, but I wasn't completely won over with so much comedy that depended on making fun of someone else's problems. It made the romantic part of the romantic/comedy seem unneeded... . As a nice added touch, the film had a singing troubadour, Jonathan Richman, appearing throughout the film in various settings to sing about Mary and what makes her so special.

REVIEWED ON 9/23/99     GRADE: C+

Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"

http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ


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