There’s Something About Mary (1998)

What is so great about Mary!??!? Oh, it’s Cameron Diaz, nevermind.

The Farrelly brothers nail the laughs in this hugely popular comedy about a hugely popular girl. Mary (Cameron Diaz) is the ideal girlfriend of every guy she meets, especially frustrated high school suitor Ted (Ben Stiller). But he’s got plenty of competition from Matt Dillon and other unexpected rivals.

The film is directed by The Farrelly Brothers, and this is basically the film that got them into mainstream names. For this they combine their signature gross-out humor, as well as a great deal of cute romantic comedy.

The one thing about this film is that it’s comedy pushes the envelope. It doesn’t push the envelope to the point of where your basically leaving in the middle of the movie to throw-up, but it does get very very raunchy and dirty at times, but not without making you laugh. There’s a lot of moments in this film where The Farrelly Brothers go the extra mile, to bring out the excruciating laughs, and well here, they work. Who after watching this can honestly forget about the “Frank and Beans” scene, or the “dog on speed scene”, all of these scenes are so out this world, but hilarious, and done so well.

But it’s not just about the raunchy and disgusting humor, it’s also, the screenplay that’s filled with some good jokes. There are plenty of moments where these guys actually have a lot of funny things to say, and despite all the gross-out stuff, the film still does have a big heart at the core of everything.

I thought that although the comedy had me laughing, I felt like some of it was trying too hard to be so crude, and mean, that it just got on my nerves. There are many, many jokes centered, and made about mentally challenged people, and although I’m not calling myself a saint or anything, I still think some of the jokes were low-blows. I don’t mind being politically incorrect, but when your just being mean to bring out some laughs, you can’t quite laugh.

Ben Stiller plays basically the same straigh-laced geek that he plays in almost every comedy, but hey it works. Cameron Diaz is great here too, and she’s got that fun-loving personality, beautiful looks, and strong sense of control in her life, that makes you fall in love with Mary too. Matt Dillon steals the show here, as liar Patrick Healy. It’s great to see how much he goes through just to get Mary, and the stuff he makes up, and how he puts it, is just hilarious. He may not have been a very funny dude before this movie, but now, he is just hilarious, proving dick-heads can always be funny. The rest of the cast is funny like Chris Elliot (a dude I haven’t seen in years), Lee Evans (some funny stuff when he drops his keys), and my favorite, Keith David (who is just hilarious in that whole “Frank and Beans” scene, and just made me almost cry every time he said something). Also, let’s not forget the perfect cameo from, “Brett”.

Consensus: There’s Something About Mary may be the most politically-correct comedy, but is a great deal of blending cutesy romantic comedy, with raunchy humor, as well as still providing enough other funny moments for the rest of the movie.

8.5/10=Matinee!!