Dumb and Dumber Blu-ray features mediocre video and poor audio in this mediocre Blu-ray release
Lloyd and Harry: One’s dumb, the other’s dumber. You pick which is which. Jim Carrey (Lloyd) and Jeff Daniels (Harry) deliver a delirious no-brainer as they hit the road to return a misplaced briefcase to its owner (Lauren Holly). The fellas don’t know the case is crammed with ransom money. Maybe that’s why smash-mouth lowlifes are trailing them, you think? Best to leave the thinking aside as the boys and the filmmaking brothers Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary) invent something really dumb…and really, really funny.
I know I am swimming against the tide, and am going to receive plenty of hate-o-mail for this review, but I just didn't like Dumb and Dumber because it was just too dumb, and made me dumber after watching it. I found nothing about the movie funny, as what constitutes the funniest parts, got a mere smirk from me. Seeing grown men act like retarded kids (no offense to folks handicapped by retardation) wasn't funny when I was younger, and is really not funny now. This is no Laurel and Hardy, that is for sure. I loved "The Mask" and "Me, Myself, and Irene", I thought they were both really good movies, and I gave them both good reviews. "The Mask" was a perfect vehicle for the talents of Carrey; his costume took the edge off his tendency to overact his physical comedy. This tendency to overact was sufficiently reined in "Me, Myself, and Irene", but left just enough room for him to play out his part well. But here Carrey is just plain stupid fool, and that was a major turn off for me. Now stay with me here because I am going to throw a curve here. While I hated this movie, I have to admit a few things. There was some good wordplay, the film is well structured and crafted, and has very good character development. I have to give Jeff Daniels some major props. His performance was excellent, and I did feel for him having to be the butt of Lloyd's stupid ideas and pranks. He did a great job playing off Carrey's overwrought performance. I recognized the difficulty in getting your timing and delivery correct when doing this kind of comedy, and I think both aspects are well done in this film. As I have written this, maybe my earlier comments are a bit harsh. I guess I didn't hate the film overall, but Carrey's performance in it. The scenes Carrey were not in, are the scenes I enjoyed the most. Dumb and Dumber was a big success at the box office, and there is no denying that no matter how much I dislike it. It grossed $127 million at the domestic box office, and about the same total worldwide. I have no doubt in my mind that this movie made a dump truck load of cash with the release of the DVD (see, I am swimming against the tide on this film). But it is also good to know that I am not alone, as the movie did get a 60% positive on Rottentomatoes, which means I am among the 40% who did not appreciate what Dumb and Dumber had to offer.
Lloyd Christmas is a limo driver, loser and overall dummy who becomes infatuated with passenger Mary Swanson as he drives her to the airport. Heading home to her family in Aspen Colorado, Mary leaves a briefcase full of money to the kidnappers of her husband on the ground at the airport. Lloyd notices this event (after he was in an accident himself), and rushes to recover and return the briefcase, getting there just before the kidnappers where to pick up the case. Thinking Lloyd is from the FBI or just another "professional", they begin to follow Lloyd attempting to retrieve the briefcase.
Harry Dunne is in the pet grooming business, and has recently spent his entire life saving converting his van into a sheepdog on wheels. On his way to delivering groomed dogs to their owner, his driving skill cause the dogs to get covered with ketchup and mustard, and when the owner see this, Harry is fired.
Back at their apartment, both Harry and Lloyd are lamenting their firings and their lives in general, and decide to go to Aspen to return the case to the owner as the door bell rings. Lloyd and Harry think it's the gas man, and leave the apartment in a hurry, realizing they have not paid their bill. The kidnappers enter their apartment, and kill their pet parakeet. On their way to Aspen, the friends encounter several misadventures; including killing one of the kidnappers with rat poisoning, and getting separated because of Lloyds wrong turn which leads them to Nebraska instead of Colorado. They get back together when Lloyd sells a few "things" to purchase a scooter for transportation. One of those things is the dead parakeet the kidnappers killed which he sold to a blind boy. Arriving at Aspen, the guys cannot remember the briefcase owner's name, so they decide to open the case, only to find a lot of money. They decide to spend the money responsibly, and include I.O.U's for everything they spend the money on. Will Lloyd and Harry get the money back to Mary before the kidnappers get them first?
Dumb and Dumber bumbles onto the Bluray format in a rather unspectacular 1080p/VC-1 encode, framed in a 1:85:1 video window. The source appears to have very minor issues of speckles and pops, but nothing extremely detracting from the overall presentation. Black levels are strong and stable, giving us a nice deep inky look, but some minor crush in the shadow detail as well. Colors are a bit muted and drab looking, although skin tones appear accurate overall. There is excellent detail in close up shots, but wide shots appear to have detail that is dialed down a bit, flattening out the depth of images considerably. Contrast appears a bit hot, and I did notice some halo's along highly contrasted edges. Overall this presentation is average and far from the best I have seen on the Bluray format
I really appreciate the use of lossless audio on every release, as it gives the clearest window of what is on the master. In saying that, it cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as the mix itself is really the star, and not the audio codec. Dumb and Dumber features a 5.1 English Dolby TrueHD track that while providing the clearest picture of the mix, the mix is basically too conservative to make any difference between lossless or lossy in this case. This is a front loaded mix with nominal activity in the surrounds, which only have atmospheric effects, and a light folding of the music from the fronts directed towards them. The front soundstage is flat and uninvolving, and the mix is only as wide as my speakers, and never beyond them, or extending towards the front wall of my viewing room. Dialog is clear and always intelligible, and it is basically the center piece of the entire mix. There is no LFE, and all of the bass in the mix is basically relegated to the front left/right mains. The difference between the lossless and lossy tracks is confined to mostly a cleaner dialog in the lossless, and that is about it. The sound quality is on par with the video, which makes for a balanced, but average overall film presentation.
Still Dumb After All These Years (18 minutes) features interviews from the cast and crew. What is notable is the absence of Carrey, and the Directors from this behind the scenes featurette. Trailers (6 minutes) presents us with three theatrical previews, and one television spot. Each theatrical preview is edited differently, and presents two completely different perspectives of this film. Additional Scenes (33 minutes) features twelve scenes edited from the picture, and for very good reasons. They stunk! Extras (7 minutes) has the actors looking back on the filming of four popular scenes in this flick. Once again Carrey is a no show.
In this particular case, I am going to have to push aside my own personal views and preferences and give this title a recommend (I cannot make myself give it a highly recommended). This movie is popular among quite a few, and probably hugely popular for Carrey fans. This Bluray represents a decent value with average picture quality, serviceable sound, and a huge array of bonus extras. I am sure fans will focus more on the film itself, than the PQ and SQ anyway, so I am not sure these are driving forces in some folks decision on whether to purchase or not. As for me, I found this film far too dumb and stupid to really enjoy, and I felt that way when I first saw the DVD as well. While I have enjoyed Carrey's performance in other films, this one just made me want to hurl all of last weeks meals, in spite of the few bright spots it has.
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