There's Something About Mary

Rating: ***

Cast:
Ted Stroman: Ben Stiller
Mary: Cameron Diaz
Pat Healy: Matt Dillon
Don Wooganowski: Chris Eliot
Directors: Peter and Bob Farrelly

To this day, There's Something About Mary still ranks as one of the crudest, but funniest movies I've seen in a long time. Most of the humour I've found is more subtle, rather than the blunt hit-you-in-the-face low-brow type Farrelly brothers type humour. I will admit though; the hype around this movie was that it was the funniest movie ever. I disagree. I thought it was funny, but it wasn't THAT funny. Anyways, I feel that the movie was a lot more developed than one actually sees in a comedy. The characters (especially Ted) are likable; although he hires a private investigator to track down Mary, we understand why he does so, and don't think its creepy.Anyways, onto the synopsis.

The Plotline: The movie centres really around Ted Stroman. Back in high school, he had a crush on a girl named Mary (Diaz), who he was all set to go to the prom with. Then... he runs into a problem when he goes to pick Mary up (those who have seen the movie will NEVER forget the zipper scene. "Franks n' beans!" And every single male who watches that movie makes a simultaneous cringe at this scene). Anyways, Ted ends up in the hospital and he doesn't see Mary for years. 13 Years later, he hires a private investigator Pat Healy(Dillon) to track her down. The problem: Healy falls in love with her and tries (pathetically) to seduce her. Ted finds out and races to meet Mary again before Healy steals her. They meet up, and the two vy for Mary's attention against both a pizza guy named "Norm" and "Woogie" (i won't reveal who he is for any who haven't watched the movie before). In the end... the question is, does Ted hook up with Mary or not...Well, I hate it when people ruin the movies for me, so I'm not going to say.

There are some really funny parts in this movie; the zipper scene of course, Puffer, and a pre=date preparation all provide the humorous plot for the movie. The major problem that I have with the humour is that most of it is very crude, at times rude, and on more than one occassion, too juvenile to even laugh at. I really liked Dumb and Dumber also by the Farrelly brothers and Kingpin but somehow, the humour seemed even lower in this film. The 'hair gel' scene was just one of them.
Don't get me wrong; I do think the movie has merit, just in other departments than the crude humour. Ben Stiller does a good job of creating pathos for the character, and Diaz does an excellent job as the foci of a large group of sex-starved males (although her over-syrupiness makes me ill at times). All of the actors perform well in tandem; I can't pick out the best actor because all of the performances gel and coalesce into a funny movie that more than once has made me burst out laughing (especially upon hearing my favourite scene, the Hitch-hiker).

Anyways, this is just my opinion. Many many people like this movie a lot, so I won't bash it anymore, nor will I say anything more. Mine peace hath been said. - K.R