Dumber and Dumber 2 Shooting This Fall

Once upon a time, in the 1990s, the Farrelly brothers had a number of comedy hits.  The first of which was Dumb and Dumber, which is notable for being the third film of Jim Carrey’s breakout year of 1994, which also included Ace Venture Pet Detective and The Mask. 

The Farrellys meteoric rise to comedic primacy peaked, arguably, with 1998’s hilariously gross comedy There’s Something About Mary (itself a breakout film for Ben Stiller). Their next few films all followed the same pattern, with Shallow Hal, Stuck on You and Fever Pitch all being slightly charming, occasionally warm and slightly funny flicks that people couldn’t quite believe were made by the guys that had Cameron Diaz’ Mary character style her hair with dude ejaculate. Then they cratered, crafting a series of duds like Hall Pass and The Heartbreak Kid.

That slide looks to be culminating next week with the release of their passion project The Three Stooges, a film that may have set the record for preemptory ill will (example tweets returned from the “Three Stooges” search string:

 

It’s no surprise, then, that the Farrellys are looking to return to their roots, announcing that filming is going to begin on a sequel to Dumb and Dumber in September with both Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprising their roles of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne.

The film previously received an (awful) prequel with 2003’s Dumber and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, which the Farrellys had nothing to do with. Our take? It’s a smart move. While you always have to be careful of following up 18 year-old movies, the Farrellys have a history of succeeding with high-end comedic talent. Jim Carrey, too, might be looking for a homecoming after spending some years wandering the dramatic woods and getting lost in the Jenny McCarthy anti-vaccine-tweeting… other woods.

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