Dumb and Dumber (Bobby Farrelly/Peter Farrelly, 1994, USA)

Dumb and Dumber is one of the quintessential 90s comedies, launching the career of the Farrelly Brothers and sending Jim Carrey into the stratosphere as a comedic force to be reckoned with. Rewatching a childhood favorite always comes with its risk (will this be as funny as I remembered it?), but Dumb and Dumber deliver. While Carrey's performance is top-notch, Jeff Daniels might be the MVP of the film, bringing a more deadpan quality to Carrey's wild theatrics.

Many of the gags are as funny as we remembered, but there are other gags - seemingly improvised - that are equally as funny (such as Carrey's random comment on the Big Gulps outside of 7-Eleven). There is a scrappy quality to the film that gives it a great deal of charm - what other film features Providence, Rhode Island as a central location? Things that stand out more now also are Todd Rundgren's phenomenal score, which features some of the best music cues ever (the love theme is genuinely fantastic). The soundtrack choices are pure 90s nostalgia, from the Primitives' "Crash" to our first introduction to Nick Cave ("Red Right Hand"). Even the less memorable tracks fit the vibe overall.

Endlessly quotable and endlessly watchable, Dumb and Dumber represents something of a lost art in American cinema. Slapstick comedy seems all but dead. The great American comic star (of which we had so many during the 1990s) also seems to be dead. Is this a result of the death of the monoculture? Can we no longer agree on what is funny? Possibly. While the Farrelly Brothers found great success after this film, Dumb and Dumber will probably go down as their most enjoyable film - precisely because the film has this scrappy quality. It still feels like an independent film at its core.

10/10