User Reviews

Did you ever see those annoying pop-up online ads about looking up old high-school friends? Did you ever stop to think that this movie is probably responsible? Really, there could be no other impetus for people to want to revisit the horrors of young adulthood then this sterling advertisement for reaching back and reclaiming the best of your past.

Ben Stiller is a sad-eyed magazine writer named Ted who never got over the girl of his high school dreams, Mary, who vanished from his life after a single date in which getting horizontal meant being carted away in an ambulance. Ted has seedy detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) investigate a lead in Miami. Healy finds her and reports back that she's a walrus in a wheelchair. Ted thinks maybe he should check up on her anyway, to see if he can be helpful to her, but Healy explains she's now en route to Japan as a mail-order bride.

Ted: What are they, desperate! She's a whale.

Healy: It's a sumo culture. They pay by the pound.

Actually, Healy is not being entirely truthful. Mary is single, ambulatory, and quite the fox in the form of Cameron Diaz. By the time Ted learns the truth, Healy's already putting on the moves on Mary with the help of a fake identity and a pair of gargantuan dentures. To counter this, without himself being exposed as a `stalker,' Ted has to reintroduce himself under similarly false pretenses. Will Mary go for this old near-flame? And what will happen when she learns the truth?

A winning romantic comedy with gut-busting boundary-breaking bathroom humor and a sly sense of what makes people tick, `There's Something About Mary' is impossibly optimistic and reassuring even as it buries your head in the gutter for cheap laughs. That's probably what redeems it and makes it such a joy to watch over and over again, the fact that this proto-`American Pie' has a real heart. The makers of the film, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, reveal in their DVD commentary that Ted's reaction to Healy's news of Mary's condition is the key to making the film work, and they are right.

Frankly, I could live in a world without `American Pie' and so many other stupid raunch-fests of its ilk, but `Mary' is pure gold all the way through. Not only is the comedy saved by virtue of its brilliance (I never heard a theater laugh so hard all the way through as I did seeing this in a stuffy Greenwich, CT cinema), it's also a very cleverly put-together film, with a lot of plot twists that hold up as well as the humor during repeat viewings. It's interesting to read people's comments and see them say that it would have been a good film if they had held off on the bad-taste stuff. That was kind of what put it on the map in the first place, the `hair gel' scene and Magda's breasts and Ted's zipper problems, but I see what they mean. You almost could make this film into a Hallmark romantic film, with minimal comedy of any kind, and it would still be interesting. I don't think I'd watch it 23 times like I have this version, however. The film never stops upping the ante on the ick-meter, a large part of what makes it brilliant.

Diaz and Stiller blend very well together, with special kudos to Diaz for being so utterly wonderful and charming in the title role. You understand what the title means without ever having it explained. Also terrific are the supporting players, major ones like Matt Dillon and Chris Elliott as well as Harland Williams as the six-minute abs guy and, of course, Puffy the dog. Jonathan Richman and his drummer are especially valuable in their cameo bits that bookend the various acts in the movie, with songs that manage to be as funny and affecting as the show they are built around. And the end credit sequence is the all-time best. I still smile when I hear `Build Me Up Buttercup' on the radio, don't you?

... because just about every man in the film is a liar. In 1985 Ted (Ben Stiller) is a geeky teenager who has a crush on beautiful Mary (Cameron Diaz). He asks her out to the prom, and she accepts. But before they can even go on their date disaster strikes in every possible, unintentional, and humiliating way for Ted, and the date never happens.

Thirteen years later, Ted still can't get Mary off of his mind and decides to hire a detective to look for her. What follows is a hilarious and rather gross tale of deceit between Mary's suitors and between the suitors and Mary, all carrying things to the point of the ridiculous to win the love of Mary. And then there is the mysterious "Brett", Mary's old boyfriend, who doesn't make an appearance until the end. All the time Mary is delightfully clueless to be so smart - she's an orthopedic surgeon.

There are supporting almost cameo appearances by Markie Post of "Night Court" fame as Mary's mother, Keith David as Mary's rather angry stepfather - at Ted not Mary , W. Earl Brown as Mary's mentally handicapped brother, and Lin Shaye as Mary's neighbor with the shoe leather tan who is playing the same kind of "gross out" role that she played in the Farrelly Brothers' film "Kingpin".

Along the way is a stalker with a shoe fetish, the shooting of a minstrel where the bullet was meant for Ted, a mass murderer, a yorkshire terrier with the engine and fortitude of twelve rottweilers, and a great music video of the song I will forever associate with this film - "Build Me Up Buttercup".

Highly recommended for people who know when not to take things so seriously. It still cheers me up over twenty years later.

Not having seen "There's Something About Mary" since its theatrical release, I sat down to watch the DVD version fearing that, as often happens in the second viewing of romantic/screwball comedies, it would not be as funny as I remembered and that I would be sadly disappointed. Happily, it was, and I wasn't. Although it lacks the satirical bite and philosophical reach of "Harold and Maude," the cult '70s romantic comedy to which "There's Something About Mary" traces its roots and pays repeated homage, this Farrelly brothers effort shares the earlier film's genre-bending spirit, shockingly iconoclastic images, and sharply written dialog - not to mention its sidesplitting hilarity.

At least a half dozen scenes in "There's Something About Mary" still rank among the funniest I've ever encountered on film and set me off once again into uncontrollable laugh convulsions, even minus the stimulus of a roaring theater audience around me. The list must naturally begin with the prom night "frank and beans" in the zipper scene. Even more than the outrageousness of the central physical source of humor, what makes the scene work so spectacularly well is its pacing and the facial reactions of the various characters who enter the bathroom to observe Ted's embarrassed agony. One thing I had forgotten about the scene (or didn't notice the first time around) was how much it owes to the classic Marx Brothers' "stateroom scene" in "A Night at the Opera." In fact, I was rather surprised while listening to the Farrelly brothers' alternate soundtrack commentary that they did not mention a Marx Brothers influence either specifically on this scene or on their brand of comedy in general.

The film's other humorous high-points (if that's the right word), certainly include the three dog sequences (Puffy in a sedative coma/Puffy on speed/Puffy in a body cast), the hitchhiker sequence and its follow-up interrogation at police headquarters, the infamous hair gel scene, and old flame Woogie's sexual assault on Mary's closet. That these are not the sorts of subjects we feel entirely comfortable having jokes based on is precisely what makes them work so well - when they work for us at all that is. Operating on the edges of moral and social taboo the Farrelly brothers deliberately risk offense and invite charges of bad taste. Not surprisingly, therefore, almost everyone will respond to some attempts at humor in "There's Something About Mary" with more discomfort than elation. In addition, some comic bits in the film don't work simply because they were ill conceived or poorly acted, the leaden entry and presence of Brett Favre in the film's final scene being one such instance in my view and the whole "pizza delivery boy" character being another.

For the most part, though, things click together in "There's Something About Mary" with a magical charm that few American screwball comedies have ever achieved. Much of the credit for that success must be attributed not only to the clever script but to the wonderful casting/acting of Ben Stiller as the lovable schlemiel Ted Stroehmann, Cameron Diaz as the luminous dream girl Mary, and Matt Dillon as the goofy gumshoe and romantic rival Pat Healy. Chris Elliott as the stressed out fetishist/stalker Woogie and Lin Shave as Mary's Maude-like neighbor Magda also add greatly to the film's comic chemistry - as does the film's musical score, which cleverly uses the Mel Brooks device of giving "background" musicians an on screen presence and concludes with a full cast encore lip-syncing to "Build Me Up Buttercup" as the end credits roll and outtakes flash by. A unique comic gem.

Basking in the glory and showing zero apologies for the raunchy humour, misogynistic characters, and ridiculing situations that shouldn't be ridiculed. If you can accept those flaws, you might enjoy this late 1990's romantic comedy. Sure "There's Something About Mary" may not fly to the modern day era where everything is watered down and more sensitive in their presentations. However if you're willing to realize that that it's just a fictional story and that the characters seen are actors and actresses playing off their respected roles and leave it at that, then you might find this film to be both charming and entertaining.

Under the direction from The Farrelly Brothers, the film would be something taken from the pages of comical directors like Blake Edwards and John Waters while combining slapstick merging together a romantic comedy narrative to show that not all romantic comedies are sentimental mush. If you can take something generic and have an original spin to it, you can churn thread into gold. "There's Something About Mary" is comical gold.

Though it supplies a plethora of bathroom jokes, The Farrelly Brothers succeed in getting straight to the bathroom humour by having Ted Stroemann (Ben Stiller) as a young teenager getting his genitals crushed by his pants zipper at Mary Jensen's house while he was taking Mary (Cameron Diaz) to the prom. The gag does ten to extend itself as recue units from all sectors (police, paramedics and firefighters) come and rescue this unlucky fellow and even going far by dropping him while he's being whisked away to the hospital on a gurney. This opening scene alone is the set-piece for the many zany things to come. It may get on your nerves at first, but after seeing it again, it's actually quite funny.

Even though many might think that scenes involving the sleazy P.I. Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) can be quite cringe-inducing at first glance. After a second watch, he is really the main reason why this movie is really stands out as Dillion steals every scene he's in. Healy was hired by Ted to track down his lost love who he's still pining over even though it's been 13 years since the disastrous incident in hope to reunite and rekindle their friendship after they lost contact since that horrific accident.

Healy, however has other tricks on his mind. He wants Mary to himself. Healy goes incognito as an architect to impress her, but he's being under dark suspicion by a neighbour's dog who he accidently overdoses. The scenes where he revives the dog looks like a scene taken from a cheesy television sitcom. When he takes his act to extremity by electrically charging the canine, the scene was very funny (relax guys and girls, no animals were harmed when this movie was made).

Clocking in slightly over the two hour mark, The Farrelly Brothers are not very good when it comes to speeding up on their delivery of jokes. They have the tendency to overdo it with a certain scene and will beat you over the head with it until you are left with no choice but to break down in laughter. Physical comedy is what the Farrelly' s specialize in and it was great that they cast Ben Stiller in the leading role because he's great at physical comedy. Even his altercation with that same pooch is rib tickling funny.

Dillon has a tendency to be a bit awkward at times, but in "There's Something About Mary", he does an admirable to play off a goofy sneak and his efforts show that he's willing to test waters in every role he tries to perform. Another equally memorable performance comes from Lee Evans who plays another deviant who also wants to win the love of Mary. Diaz, who may be rendered as a mere straight character has enough charm and optimism is able to win anybody's heart. Rounding the supporting cast includes Chris Elliott as Ted's friend and Lin Shaye as Mary's neighbour Magda.

Sure this movie may not be on the side to modern era sensitivities by not being politically correct and the raunchy jokes might be a bit of overkill, it's still a great movie if you got two hours to kill. Under all the shock humour featured in "There's Something About Mary", it's a film that has heart to it, we want to Ted to rekindle his relationship with Mary and we want Mary to make the right decision of who she wants to date. Though it has its share of flaws, you won't notice it because you'll be laughing until your face turns pink.

For comedy, Bobby and Peter Farrelly's "There's Something About Mary" is really not all that funny. Most of the jokes are meant to push the boundaries of decency, but do little except waste space. The movie tries to be one of these new, quirky romantic-comedies - like "The Wedding Singer" - only fails.

Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz fall flat in the lead, while Matt Dillon and Lee Evans go down fighting. For great off-beat comedy, see "Better off Dead", a masterpiece of this genre. There's really nothing more to tell.

Sunday, July 11, 1999 - Video