Offbeat Comedy In There's Something About Mary

Added: 10/08/2007

The Farrelly Brothers are the same people who brought you movies like Dumb & Dumber, Shallow Hal, and Me Myself & Irene. Their brand of comedy is unusual to say the least and their approach to movie making is certainly their own. The really interesting part about Bobby and Peter Farrelly is that their major motion picture career has really only just begun to flourish.

There’s Something About Mary is an offbeat comedy directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly and yes they are brothers. The Farrelly brothers are known for their particular brand of dark humor and when you put your stamp on movies like There’s Something About Mary and Me Myself & Irene then you begin to get that label of offbeat and even a bit eccentric. The Farrelly brothers’ movies can be called a lot of things but the one thing they can all definitely be called is funny. There’s Something About Mary was nominated for two Golden Globe awards and was an enormous success at the box office but recognition from the Academy Award nomination committee eluded it. There’s Something About Mary did go on to win a variety of other awards and it also offered something that no other major motion picture comedy has ever offered before. There’s Something About Mary had an appearance from football legend Brett Favre who was a major part of the plot and there is just nothing wrong with a movie that features Brett Favre as a plot line and an actor.

There’s Something About Mary has a lot of things going on and features some of the more famous disturbing scenes in the history of comedy. We get to see a cartoon like depiction of an older woman’s breasts and of course there is the famous hair gel scene which we won’t get into here. The basic plot of There’s Something About Mary is that a kid named Ted, played by Ben Stiller, gets the chance to go to the prom with his dream girl Mary, played by Cameron Diaz. However when prom night comes the date never happens due to a series of circumstances that you pretty much have to see to understand Ted is left without his dream date and gets to stew on it for years. Later in life he decides that he still has feelings for Mary and hires a private detective named Pat, played by Matt Dillon, to track Mary down and find out where she is and what she is up to. Pat finds Mary but when he does he starts to fall in love with her and reports back to Ted a whole series of horrible things about Mary that are not true and tries to convince Ted to forget about Mary. As the movie rolls on Ted winds up in Mary’s life again by accident and then a whole series of extremely funny events start happening as Pat tries to get Ted away from Mary. Got it?

Sprinkled in with all of this are characters like Dom played by Chris Elliott who is a middle-aged man with a serious skin problem and a wife that likes the intimate moments. There is a little brother that is a little dim-witted and there is also a Brett Favre thread that keeps weaving its way throughout the movie until Brett Favre himself finally shows up at the end of the movie. Throughout the movie Ted gets a fish hook caught in his mouth, Mary uses some suspicious substance as a hair gel, and Pat proves to be a very diabolical character to get what he wants. The whole thing is an intertwining mess that turns out to be one of the funnier movies you will ever see and also one of those movies that can make you feel ashamed because you laughed at it. The Farrelly Brothers physical comedy in a whole new way and in There’s Something About Mary their particular brand of bizarre physical comedy is on full display and when it works it really works. So if you have a conscience you may want to leave it at home and if you don’t have a conscience then you are ready to go to see There’s Something About Mary. Oh, and if dogs leaping out of windows bothers you then you may want to cover your eyes.

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