Dumb and Dumber To?

I remember very distinctly the first time I watched "Dumb and Dumber."  It was the day before Thanksgiving in 1999 and I my family was visiting relatives up in Washington State.  We were all sitting around the fireplace drinking hot cocoa and my dad looked to my grandfather and asked him what movie we should all watch together.  He looked over to me and then emphatically said "Dumb and Dumber."  I had never heard of this movie before that moment because at that time I was living a very sheltered existence. So, my grandfather walked over to the movie cabinet, fished around inside for the VHS, found it and promptly popped it into the player.  For the next two hours I was laughing so hard I cried until my tear ducts hurt.  Yes, the movie does contain stupid humor.  Yes, the humor is at times crude.  Yes, it is neither wholesome or thought provoking.  And yet, it was beyond hilarious.

So when I heard that they were making a (legitimate) sequel, my heart both leapt and sank at the same time.  Why were they making a sequel to a hilarious movie?  Why after 20 years?  Just... WHY?!  Then I saw the trailer for it and my hopes were somewhat raised.  It didn't matter if the movie stunk.  I was going to see this because of some misplaced sense of nostalgia.

Well... I went and saw it.  There were times that I laughed.  However, I found myself more disheartened by the experience than elated.  Maybe it's because the snobbish tendencies of my artistic pallet have grown over the years or maybe it's because seeing Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey act like adolescent idiots while being in their 50's is slightly off-putting.

Regardless, based upon the film I know that the cast and crew had an absolute blast making the movie and it shows.  What is sorely lacking in this film is an original script.  If they had changed the storyline drastically instead of rehashing the original it would have been a lot funnier in my opinion.  All in all, it was neat to see Jeff Daniel and Jim Carrey at it again but it was more of a letdown than a pick-me-up.