Heartbreak and Other Awful Sequels

It's December of 1994. Two brothers release their first breakout comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, Dumb and Dumber. While not as warmly received by critics as it was by the public, the film went on to be a box office success and a cult favorite. It solidified the careers of the Farrelly brothers and Carrey as new comedic heavyweights. Twenty years pass, and the gang gets together again to revisit the material. High jinx ensue on screen as Harry and Lloyd go on a mission to get a replacement kidney from Harry's estranged daughter. What could have perhaps been an excellent film had it been made in the nineties instead becomes arguably the most soul crushing film going experience I've had in a decade of movie-going.

What's that you say?

For me, Dumb and Dumber was a classic. I held it in as such a high regard as movies like The Holy Grail and Airplane! It's a timeless comedy, one that will never become irrelevant. My appreciation for the original Dumb and Dumber obviously makes me somewhat bias in my opinion of the sequel (I know, what was I expecting) but should that even be an excuse? The movie has already surpassed box office predictions and finished first over the weekend beating out Big Hero 6, which was phenomenal I might add, so I wasn't the only one to look past the presumptions about the film and the reputation sequels have, especially comedy sequels. Just because a beloved franchise has been established and producers know that a sequel will put butts in the seats, does that automatically then give them the power to make the follow up abhorrent because...fuck you you're going to see it anyway? It doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon either. For the past several years all of the top money makers at the box office have been sequels, and if Fast and the Furious performs anything at all like it has in the past that won't change this year either. We can be prepared for several Transformers and TMNT sequels to be stopping by any summer now I'm certain.

Good analogy here, guys.

I wanted to love this movie. Really, I did. What else excites a D+D fan more than the original crew getting back together for another stupid romp through North America? Unfortunately they didn't make it to Denver again. There's a lot more gross-out toilet humour that we've come to expect from the Farrelly brothers as of late with such pukes as Movie 43 and the Three Stooges reboot. I know the original had it's fair share of crass jokes as well, I won't pretend like it didn't. It wasn't some brilliant new comedy that avoided all poop jokes, hell one of the funniest parts is Harry having raging diarrhea. Once Lloyd went wrist deep in an old woman's vagina somehow that became too much for me.  Where was the sharp witted writing that made the original so great? "It's a cardigan but thanks for noticin'!" Replaced with "Yep. I decided to name my cat Butthole."
Dare I go as far as saying the sequel has sullied the reputation of the first film for me? I won't be that dramatic, but I was close. Very close.

Seriously, just don't go see this movie.