Dumb and Dumberer - When Harry Met Lloyd

Oh you have got to be kidding. There is one word to describe this film. It begins with an ‘h’, and no, it's not ‘honourable’.

Try ‘hideous’.

The best part of the film lies in its duration – 82 minutes. Even that is too long. The first film, Dumb and Dumber, from 1994 was a hit for the Farrelly Brothers who then went on to make There’s Something About Mary, Shallow Hal and Stuck on You - three more in a long string of box office successes. Then the approval came along for a sequel, well prequel really, which to be honest really needed a few more rewrites before production. With the Farrelly Brothers nowhere in sight, directorial credits were given to Troy Miller, the director of the kooky crass film Run Ronnie Run. The biggest thing that stands out for this reviewer was the constant disregard for decade-isms. C’mon, a film set in 1986 should be a hoot, but the setting for this film feels more like any quaint town in 2004, totally lacking in those shockingly stereotypical '80s fashions, music, architecture, automobile-ia and other ephemera. How do you think this film holds up knowing that this disrespect for the '80s holds the biggest laugh?

Yeah, it’s that sad.

This film shows how Harry Dunne met Lloyd Bridges. Originally played by Jeff Bridges and Jim Carrey respectively, it’s quite scary to say that Eric Christian Olsen, who plays Lloyd and just for the record looks totally different to his portrayal in the film, really does look like Jim Carrey. See it was just a rubber face after all... I knew it! Where is that Mask now? But anyway, where was I? Oh that’s right – Harry met Lloyd. The pair of ignorant dummies met by accident as they were both running in opposite directions to reach the same school. Yeah, go figure. So the pair become friends, yeah, I know, predictably, so now enter Jim’s Dad (Levy, that is) the evil moustache-wearing principal of the school they “attend�. Along with his coconut bra-wearing assistant Ms. Heller (Oteri), the two come up with a plan to embezzle $100,000 by creating a special needs class. And what better daft, dim-witted people to fill that class than the two goof balls, Harry and Lloyd? Now they must find a class. So they go around and drag in the miscreants of the school and ta-da, there we have a special needs class. Oh but little Ms. Pretty Girl is on the case and smells a rat – and no, it’s not a freshly baked apple pie. Can they get the money? And who will save the day? And who will get the girl? Well it’s quite predictable to say the least, more formulaic than most algebra and, sadly, algebra is also more enjoyable than this film. You never know, watching this, along with Wild Things 2 might just completely destroy your intellygents.

Presented in the original theatrical aspect of 1.85:1, Dumb and Dumberer comes to DVD with a rather nice anamorphic transfer. Why is it always so disappointing to see films such as this receive such nice DVD treatment? Ah another mystery of life. Like why did they make this film.

OK, OK, no more bitching, I get it...

The odd film artefact zips past the finely grained image, which on the whole is pretty darn sharp. The grain does, however, at times restrict the clarity of the image. Colours are reasonably mastered, however at times feel a little restricted, not shining to their full potential. Blacks are nice and deep, showing no sign of low level noise, however at times can appear a little blue. Nothing quite as hideous as The Good Girl, but still not as black as black could be. Fitting nicely on two layers, it appears that the film is smushed onto one layer as no layer change clunks past during the film.

Two Dolby Digital audio tracks have been thrown in the mix, with options of 5.1 or 2.0. Both are serviceable tracks in their own right, but never really have the opportunity to shine. 5.1-wise, dialogue is clear throughout from the centre channel, with the remaining channels, including the woofer, getting a reasonable amount of discrete action. Sure, no big bada-booms, but enough to keep you attentive. Stereo-wise, things are peachy, with little in the way of channel separation, and sounds pretty decent if your system can only handle two channels. Filled with tracks from the 1980s, plus some more decade confusion with tracks from groups such as Good Charlotte and They Might Be Giants, the soundtrack is fairly decent, with an appropriate, yet forgettable, score leaving Eye of the Tiger as a stand out for this reviewer.

When will the madness end? 82 minutes was pushing this reviewer’s sanity with the film alone, not to mention a bag full of extras and a skazillion Easter eggs. Oh and if you want to know about these Easter eggs, just take a hike to our Easter eggs page – we don’t want to ruin any surprises here.

The comic-like 16:9 menus, which feature plenty of animations (including scene selection animations) and background audio, are your ticket to this swarm of features, plus the discovery of the skazillion Eggs. One thing this DVD does have going for it is that all of the extra features are anamorphically enhanced – really nice to see.

Up first we have three audio commentaries which in reality equates to one and 1/13th of a commentary. Nice logic, eh? Well read on for more. Up first is a feature-length commentary with Troy Miller, Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson. These guys have pretty much nothing of interest to say apart from trivial comments much like the descriptions of a character in a screenplay. The remaining 1/13th worth of commentaries is divided into two lots of 1/26th worth of commentaries, one with Samuel Shavers and Thompson Jennings, two film critics, and the other with the Ciccone family. These both run for only about three minutes, therefore equating to 1/26th of a feature-length commentary. Woohoo, this film hasn’t made me more dumberer!

Thrown in for good measure are two featurettes, the first is Casting the Perfect Dummies (25:15). This takes a look at the casting of the dummies in the film. Isn’t that just the self-esteem boost that young people need? Being called a professional dummy. In this reviewer’s opinion, the perfect dummy is the dude who wrote all those books. He’s a rich dummy, more than you can say for these guys. Who’s the dummy now? Anyway, the other featurette is Dumb and Dangerous: The Making of Dumb and Dumberer�, taking a 17:10 look at things like your usual promotional-style making-of featurette.

A stack of deleted scenes have been included, you know, I just knew 82 minutes was too good to be true... So now you’re faced with a decision – “Dumb� or “Dumberer�. “Dumb� takes you to a list of alternate and deleted scenes which are Alternate Main Titles (6:25), Ninja and Chicken Sushi (2:03), Alternate Bus Chase (3:06), Ray's Song (2:57), Lloyd's Fantasy - Long Version (1:30), Alternate Breakup Montage (2:10), Harry and Lloyd Open The Chest - Alternate Version (1:32), Goodbye George Washington (1:08) and Gorilla at Jessica's (1:04), all available with an optional commentary Troy Miller and Larry Jordan (editor). “Dumberer� takes you to a 7:39 sequence of narrated bloopers by the cast of the film.

Finishing off the collection are two trailers – one theatrical trailer, featuring a clever Lord of the Rings concept, running for 1:57 and one teaser trailer running for 1:10.

Why do crap films get such decent transfers, not to mention a fair quantity of well-produced extras?

*sigh*

Why should I recommend this film to you? Well the disc is shiny. And it makes a good coaster. Oh, did I mention it was shiny?

MMMmmm... shiny...