With one qualification, "There's Something About Mary" is one of the funniest movies in recent memory. The minor detail required of the audience is a total lack of class or taste, or at least the ability to leave such encumbrances beyond the bounds of the theater. If you can meet these criteria, I can guarantee two hours of belly-busting laughter.
"There's Something About Mary" is from the Farelly brothers, the idiot savants behind "Dumb and Dumber" and "Kingpin," so you know what you're getting into already. Luckily, this movie isn't quite as dumb. It revolves around a girl named Mary (Cameron Diaz) who has "something" about her which drives men crazy (literally) and the obsessive weirdos who love her.
Our hero is Ted (the incredibly talented Ben Stiller), a high school dork who, after sticking up for Mary's mentally challenged brother, lucks into a prom invitation. Due to an unfortunate, hilarious and sickening zipper incident, the date doesn't work out. Ted spends the next 13 years obsessing over Mary, the one love of his life (he believes). Unfortunately, her family moved to Miami soon after the zipper incident and is now unlisted.
When he decides to look her up, he enlists the services of shady P.I. Pat Healy (Matt Dillon). Dillon (real-life love interest of Cameron Diaz) finds Mary, but takes a liking to her, just like everybody else. He lies to Ted, painting her as an overweight mail-order bride, and heads directly to Miami to use his P.I. savvy to woo Mary. Of course, hijinks ensue when Ted discovers the truth and heads for Florida to act on his long obsession.
As Healy follows Mary around, he discovers enough about her to make his move. Masquerading as an architect with a condo in Nepal and a passion for taking care of "retards," he manages to evoke some affection from the impossibly wonderful Mary. Of course, he has to contend with his own hoodlike nature, ridiculous lack of style and the sleaziest mustache ever.
Of course, the Mary obstacle course is filled with many other obstacles for her would-be suitors. There's her elderly live-in neighbor, Magda, a leather-skinned drunk who makes life miserable for almost everyone with her listening devices and a psychotic dog. There's Brett, the "corn-fed white boy" who she shared an almost perfect relationship with (he couldn't handle her brother). But most of all, what keeps the varied group of men questing after Mary from their goal is each other. The best jokes of the movie come from both their attempts to court her and their even more hilarious attempts to thwart the others.
What makes this film a worthy follow-up to "Dumb and Dumber" and "Kingpin" is its unflinching depiction of the grotesque. Some films aim for gross-out humor but never really go all the way. The Farrelly brothers know a stomach churning opportunity when they see it, and they never look back.
The film also benefits tremendously from the impeccable comic timing of its lead actors. Stiller is the ultimate loser-geek; he's so hapless and creepy that nothing that happens to him even seems real, allowing us to feel no annoying pangs of regret at some of the embarrasing situations he is put through.
Diaz is the true charmer, though, and this role allows her a chance to show off her formidable comic skills. This film, like "My Best Friend's Wedding" before it, showcases her as a looker who is willing to do anything to get laughs, a true rarity among Hollywood actresses. It's easy to see why all of the men in this film are crazy about her.
In the end, "There's Something About Mary" may be a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure all the same. If you like brilliantly clever comedy, make sure to check this one out. Overcome your reservations, ignore your disgust and revel in the hilarity of an uncommonly enjoyable film.
