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Two missing Ashland teens planned to run away, police say ... Movie review: 'Dumb and Dumber To' stays true to form By Jeremy Costello More Content Now DailyTidings.com By Jeremy Costello More Content Now Posted Nov. 20, 2014 @ 9:56 am Updated Nov 20, 2014 at 10:21 AM By Jeremy Costello More Content Now Posted Nov. 20, 2014 @ 9:56 am Updated Nov 20, 2014 at 10:21 AM » Social News The original “Dumb and Dumber” was a unique comedy adventure. It came out back when Jim Carrey had one of his greatest runs. In 1994, he was in “Ace Ventura,” “The Mask” and the original “Dumb and Dumber.” The first two got sequels, and he later was in “Liar Liar,” another gem of his. I’d easily call it his heyday; the best of Carrey was in that stretch. Now, 20 years later, “Dumb and Dumber To” finally is the sequel the original movie deserved. (It was a more prequel, but let’s pretend “Dumb and Dumberer” never happened, OK?) Right off the bat, you’ll notice how Jeff Daniels, the other co-­star who earned a solid reputation on his own merit, and Carrey don’t look too different from their characters, Harry and Lloyd, respectively, from 20 years ago. Whether it was appearances, the shaggin wagon or Lloyd’s always-­hilarious method of aiming his breath spray backwards, there were just enough nods to the original to maintain continuity and generate fan service. The story does take place 20 years from the first movie, and the writers shoehorned in a half-­concocted explanation for what’s happened the past 20 years, albeit through hilarious means. It’s hard to take the premise of Lloyd being in a psychological trance of sorts for that long, only to turn out to be a hoax, but there was still plenty of comedy there. The catheter scene was laugh­out­loud funny, and even some of the flashback scenes of watching Harry “change” Lloyd can’t help but foster chuckles. It’s also hard to accept the premise as a whole. Make no mistake, it's hard to take the film seriously, but that’s what makes the “Dumb and Dumber” movies unique. There are a lot of movies, even a whole sub­genre, that thrives off the over­-the-­top, unrealistic, ridiculous proceedings and storylines. While “Dumb and Dumber To” certainly isn’t shy about following that trend, there’s a certain mystique about it that tries to convince itself that the story, behaviors and comical happenstance actually could, and would, happen. The story in a nutshell goes as follows: Harry finds out he has a long-lost daughter, and he needs to find her to ask if she can donate one of her kidneys to him so he can live. He tracks down her home, but she isn’t there. Instead, she’s on a trip to Texas for a conference, forcing the duo to traverse halfway across the country (like in the original). In one scene when they’re in Texas, Harry has to pretend to be someone else —­ his daughter’s guardian father, in fact ­— to get into the conference. When the staff at the conference are told who Harry “is,” they start to gravel at his feet; the guy Harry is pretending to be is a science genius. Harry obviously is not, so that leads to plenty of comedy, right? Yes it does, but this is one of those times when the story almost gets too ridiculous for its own good. No one seems to catch on to the fact that Harry, in fact, is not a scientific genius. Or smart at all. But Daniels a good enough acting job to make Harry seem like he knows exactly what he’s doing. Sheer comedy genius. There are plenty of other moments that make you remember you’re watching a “Dumb and Dumber” movie. While on their road trip, Harry and Lloyd bring along a car companion. At one point, they stop driving in the middle of the road, which happened to be on the train tracks. Harry and Lloyd step away for a minute, and the train comes barreling into the car, killing their car companion. When Harry and Lloyd return to the scene and see the mayhem and what’s taken place, they assume that their companion stole the car. It’s those kind of moments, those blatant yet honest-­to-­goodness­ mistake moments, that belongs to this movie series; only these movies. And that car scene was just one of the many examples. Naming a cat Butthole because it has one, misusing phrases or using the wrong words in common phrases unbeknownst to them, it’s all present and accounted for in “Dumb and Dumber To.” The sheer brilliance of the characters is how they know they’re the smartest people in the room at all times. That’s not easy to pull off, but Daniels and Carrey pull it off effortlessly. There were some jokes that didn’t seem to fit. Some sexual innuendos and other choice words weren’t really necessary, even if they still brought laughs. At the end of the movie, they showed a montage of clips, two at a time. One clip was from the original, another from the sequel. It was cool to see how they had so many similarities while showing how far things have come. Make no mistake, the original is still better, but “Dumb and Dumber To” lived up to the name. By Jeremy Costello More Content Now DailyTidings.com By Jeremy Costello More Content Now Posted Nov. 20, 2014 @ 9:56 am Updated Nov 20, 2014 at 10:21 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2014 Local Media Group, Inc. 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