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There's Something About Mary
**1/2
Cinema
Releases - September 25,
1998
Rated on a 4-star
scale. USA. Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly. Written by Ed
Decter, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly and John J. Strauss; from a story
by Decter and Strauss. Starring Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris
Elliott, W. Earl Brown, Lee Evans, Lin Shaye, Jeffrey
Tambor.
There's something about "There's Something
About Mary". The film is a "gross-out comedy" which has had such
terrific reviews and word of mouth that you'd think it was up to the level
of, say, Mel Brooks. The truth is that it's not only immeasurably far away
from that level, it's not even as good as its makers' last
film.
I'm watching myself here. I did like "There's
Something About Mary". Now, sitting down to write this review, and giving
the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, I'm reminded of a discussion I
had a few years ago with the American film critic Roger Ebert. I asked him
if it bothered him that he might be misinterpreted as de-commending a film
he gave his famous "thumbs down" signal, when often it meant that he just
couldn't quite recommend it. Wouldn't it be easier to have something like
a "thumbs away", for average movies which inspire mixed
feelings?
Roger seemed quite content with his rigid "up"
or "down" policy, and being impressed at that discipline, I've generally
tried to follow his example. But for this movie, my thumb's
away.
What does that mean? Is it worth seeing? Well,
not if you want something genuinely witty. Yes, if you're prepared to leave
your brain at home, locked up tightly, and be swept along by the fun of being
part of a large, rowdy audience, chortling away at something
crude.
And "There's Something About Mary" is certainly
crude. No doubt you'll have already been told about the famous scene in which
the hero (Ben Stiller) manages to get caught in his zipper the parts of his
anatomy men least want to think about in connection with zippers. And apart
from physical anguish and rude noises, the film manages to squeeze merriment
out of various groups. Off the top of my head, these include: men, women,
whites, blacks, the young, the old, the poor, the rich, the clever, the stupid,
people on the East Coast, people on the West Coast, the mentally retarded,
private eyes, musicians, pizza boys and cops. It attacks all these people
with such vicious zeal that a viewer has to laugh somehow -- even if it's
a form of disbelieving gasp.
The film works by being, for the most part, a
deliberately lame romance, and then, every now and again, springing an
outrageously sick gag on us and staying with it until every cruel possibility
of a joke has been exhausted. I admire it for having that courage, I guess,
and also for not being another "Dumb and Dumber". That was the Farrelly brothers'
(this film's makers) first film, and it was non-stop toilet humour that soon
got tiresome.
However, the film is not as good as "Kingpin",
their second effort. That was an extraordinary combination of the elements
of satire and the elements of trash that earned the audiences' giggles. From
that, "There's Something About Mary" is not a step forward.
In conclusion, I repeat myself: I honestly don't
know whether this movie should be recommended, so I'm not going to make a
decision. Go and see it, if you like. Laugh loudly. Just don't expect to
understand why you laughed once you've left the cinema.
COPYRIGHT©
1998 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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