Please allow me to speak for the rest of the fans of Dumb and Dumber:
Twenty years ago, we fell in a love with a great slapsticky, silly and “stoopid” movie. With great comedy and a nice little naive heart behind it, Dumb and Dumber charmed us and won us over. When the property was revisited 11 years later with an awful prequel (Dumb and Dumberer), we looked the other way and pretended that it never happened. Now, 20 years later, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels were finally coaxed into returning for an actual sequel, Dumb and Dumber To (which is an even worse title that “Dumb and Dumberer”). Do we want to love it? Of course. Do we need it? Not at all. We weren’t even asking for it, but with Hollywood only making the big bucks on sequels these days, it’s no wonder that they’re giving us this. Even bad sequels make boatloads of money these days (see ‘Transformers‘) – which is exactly what this bad sequel is sure to do despite not deserving it.
To describe the plot of Dumb and Dumber To, let’s show what the screenwriters’ mad lib may have looked like at a very high level.
Two dummies live oblivious lives. One (strong want/need) and coaxes the other into a roadtrip to (place) to get it. Along the way, they lose their (silly vehicle) and replace it with (another silly vehicle). When they get to their destination, they are mistaken for (fancy stereotype). While the audience knows it all along, the dummies realize that they have been involved in a murderous plot all along.
Please note that this same mad lib system is exactly what ruined the Hangover franchise. The only difference is that Dumb and Dumber will live on because the original movie was so great. The same cannot be said for the first Hangover, which is why the sequels tarnished and destroyed the franchise entirely.
Along those same lines, many jokes from Dumb and Dumber are rehashed for the sequel. Some of the repeats might make you chuckle, but they won’t make you laugh. Luckily, about 20 percent of the jokes are new. Some fall flat, but occasionally we’re given one that’s fresh and gut-busting.
Dumb and Dumber To is too little, too late, too wasteful, and too green (meaning it recycles way too much). Just like Dumb and Dumberer, it’s just another spin-off that’s worth ignoring and forgetting ever happened. There’s only one Dumb movie worth caring about and it’s the original.
(Photo credit: Universal)
