Chase Whale
It's Not As Smart As The Original, But Dumb and Dumber To Is Still Fun Enough.
Dumb and Dumber To.
Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly.
Writer: Sean Anders, Mike Cerrone, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, John Morris, Bennett Yellin.
Cast: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels.
Playing At: Wide Release.
Let's start out on the same page here: If you are in the crowd of people that wants to shit on Dumb and Dumber To because “it looks so stupid” and “won't live up to the original,” then you should probably go ahead and stop reading this and go watch Transformers 12. Dumb and Dumber To has already lost the battle with you before you gave it a chance. And that's just dumb.

Moving on.
The last time we saw boneheaded best friends Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels), they were walking through the desert, giving a bus full of bikini-wearing models the wrong directions to a competition. Twenty years later, the boys are back in town for a new, crazy adventure.
This time around, Harry is front and center. He needs a new kidney and the only person who can give that to him is a daughter he never knew existed. So, the two set out on another road adventure to find her, crossing paths with some old pals from the first movie and managing to break everything — and everyone — around them in the process.
There's a lot more to the story, to be sure, but that's probably as much as you need to know going in. After all, it's Lloyd and Harry we're talking about here, two goons who find surprises and trouble wherever they go.
Our biggest fear going into Dumb and Dumber To was this: Will Carrey and Daniels still be willing to act as viciously filthy as they did in the first one, in the days before they got super famous? That answer to that is a delightful yes. Carrey and Daniels are clearly having the time of their lives here, and it shows. They are the heart of this movie, and it's what makes it a lot of fun to watch. You can tell the boys have aged quite a bit, yeah, but that's easily dismissed. After all, it has been 20 years since the original.
Still, while I'm happy to report that Dumb and Dumber To isn't awful, it's not quite consistently hilarious, either. There are a lot of laughs throughout the film — mostly in the numerous retreaded jokes cribbed from the original — but it fizzles out in the third act. This movie would have been funnier if it played more self-aware of the fact that it is clearly a sequel. This is why the brilliant 22 Jump Street worked so well; it does the exact same thing as the first Jump Street but winks at the audience it knows it's capitalizing upon. That's clever filmmaking. Well, sort of, anyway.
Here, it mostly feels as if Dumb and Dumber To uses a lot of the same gags just because directors Pete and Bobby Farrelly (There's Something About Mary) knew they worked once before and, hey, maybe they'll work twice. While still entertaining, the result of this is that this movie will probably be forgotten within a few months' time. Hey, that's OK, because we will always have the original. And if you're a big fan of that original, then you'll likely find Dumb and Dumber To funny enough — even if it doesn't quite recapture the magic of its predecessor.
Truth is, how you feel about this film is entirely predicated on you. You're either seeing it or you're not, and you know this already. Just know this, too: If you do decide to see this film, be sure to stay for an awesome after-the-end-credits scene.
You will not be disappointed by it. That much I can say for sure.
Grade: C+.
