Dumb and Dumberer

Starring Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson
Screenplay by Robert Brener and Troy Miller
Based on a story by Robert Brener
Directed by Troy Miller
website: www.whenharrymetlloyd.com

IN SHORT: Far funnier than the stoopid and stoopider we expected. [Rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor and language. 102 minutes]

When Harry Met Lloyd at the corner of Stan St. and Oliver Avenue; one got a chipped tooth.The other got a concussion. Neither got the historical reference but that's OK. If you do (and you're not currently in a film history class) you're way outside of the target demo for this prequel to Dumb and Dumber, the Jim Carrey-Jeff Daniels team-up that introduced Harry Dunne and Lloyd Christmas to audiences everywhere. We -- honestly -- dreaded the need to plant to screen this film. We walked out more than pleasantly amused. It's funny with physically dead on younger versions of Carrey and Daniels who have the mannerisms of their elders and still manage to bring new laughs to the table.

Before they had each other, Harry (Derek Richardson) had a bestest friend called Captain Rob. Tall dude. Totally invisible to all by Mr. Dunne. He doesn't have much to do in WHML but we know better than to ignore large invisible dudes. Harry has this invisible friend because he has no others. He's been home schooled by a loving mother (Mimi Rogers) for all of his years and is now fit to leave the roost. His first day at Providence High leads to that consequential meeting with Lloyd (Eric Christian Olsen) and an even more arousing encounter with blonde beauty Jessica Matthews (Rachel Nichols). Jessica writes for the school newspaper. Lloyd's father Ray (Luis Guzman) is the school's custodian (which is why the boy lives in the basement and is impressively accoutered in rich kidlet's clothes from the lost and found).

On the flip side of the good guy/bad guy coin are Providence High principal Collins (Eugene Levy) who is doing the nasty with lunch lady Ms. Heller (Cheri Oteri). Principal Collins sees Harry and Lloyd as key players in a $100,000 payoff from the state school superintendent for starting a program for students with "special needs". Why he picks Harry and Lloyd isn't the question. Neither is the reason he puts the eminently unqualified lunch lady in charge of the program. Why he enlists our heroes to find other worthy students for the program is, but he does and they do: Turk (Elden Henson) who starts his day, every day, by stuffing Lloyd into a garbage can; Lewis (Shia LaBeouf) who is seen half dressed in his school mascot costume and is assumed to be half-man, half-horse by our noble dimwits; Ching Chong (Michelle Krusiec) the foreign exchange student; injured skateboarder Toby (Josh Braaten) and his girlfriend Terri (Teal Redmann).

They all strive to become geniuses, like Albert Frankenstein. We wish 'em luck.

Do our heroes resemble their older, previously seen counterparts? Yep. Are they funny? Ditto. Dumb and Dumber, we suspect, is one of those films that you should go out and see now, before the crowds shrink and the film gets dumped on video. Without the crowds to get the laughing started, we doubt we would have gotten more than a chuckle out of the thing. With a good sized crowd, it wasn't hard.

On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Ten Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to Dumb and Dumberer, he would have paid . . .

$5.00

dateflick level. We laughed. Then again, we got in free. Your gut feeling as to the appropriateness of this flick to strip your wallet of the green stuff is probably appropriate.

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