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There is a certain group of filmgoers who decry the state of American cinema (and, by extension, the American intellect) by asking: How can you take cinema seriously in light of a film like Dumb and Dumber? Believing that the public acceptance of Peter and Bobby Farrelly's film is a symptom of what Paul Fussell called the "dumbing-down of America," Farrelly detractors are missing the deeper complexities that their work (including Kingpin, their second film) reveals about our culture of "dumb people." Why do film snobs miss this? If they've seen the Farrellys' pictures, whether they liked them or not, are they not dumb for misunderstanding the use of satire, parody and physical comedy? Or did they only get it when the star of Dumb and Dumber, Jim Carrey, used these devices in The Truman Show, a movie that truly made the whole world look like idiots? Can they only appreciate important themes surrounding the human experience when mastered by Peter Weir's distinguished eye? True, Weir is a complex and thought-provoking filmmaker, but the Farrelly brothers offer their audience more than just gross humor. Through their crass, hilarious (and, yes, dumb) humor, the brothers reveal a deep-seated fear within us all: that either by nature or through the demeaning blows of life, we are all freaks. The Farrellys reveal the horrors of demeaning freakdom with There's Something About Mary, a movie that, though flawed, is often hilarious, poignant and, most important, human. The film stars Ben Stiller as Ted Stroehmann, a neurotic writer who still pines for Mary Jenson (Cameron Diaz), the love of his life who asked him to the prom so many years ago. Though he hasn't seen her in more than 10 years, he is fixated on finding her and revealing that he is more than just the guy who caught his penis in his zipper while taking a leak in her parents' bathroom. He is still the guy who defended her mentally disabled brother from the school bullies and who loved her not just because she was beautiful but because she was nice. In his quest, Ted hires mendacious private investigator Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down in Miami. Healy finds Mary to be a beautiful woman who is kind to the aged, helps out the disabled, loves golf and has a successful medical career. She is also a fox, which is all Healy really cares about, and he promptly falls in love with her as so many men have. Unfortunately, these men fall for her with such disturbing intensity that they will stop at nothing to get her. To deter Ted, Healy tells him that Mary is no prize filly anymore, and though Ted is saddened by this, he thinks he can help her and decides to find her anyway. When he journeys to Miami with his friend Dom (Chris Elliott) in tow, he finds Mary more beautiful than ever. He also finds a cabal of suitors hoping to entrap her through various acts of disguise. The struggles and wooing that follow reach such a high degree of absurdity that it is hard not to believe that the filmmakers are up to something deeper than just crass comedy; through their comedic talents, the Farrellys magnify our internal weaknesses until they become absurd. Like Tod Browning's controversial Freaks, There's Something About Mary makes a case for the worthiness of the disabled, insecure and ugly, but it also slams the despicability of the loser. Through the oft-trod genre of romantic comedy, the Farrellys expose the malevolence of infatuation. Mary reveals Jack Nicholson's line in As Good as It Gets--"You make me want to be a better man"--as self-obsessed bullshit, an attempt at self-betterment through another's perfection. Perfection is Mary, who symbolizes more than the heaven necessary to the hell; she shows that as idiocy is not bliss, neither is intelligence. Though this sounds simplistic, the movie is most certainly not. Mary is a multifaceted picture that compares and contrasts real mental disability (seen in Mary's attachment to her brother) with the romantic misconduct that drives people to lunacy. Everyone who falls for Mary engages in self-mutilating obsession, both physical and mental--Dom develops a disgusting nervous rash, and Healy enlarges his teeth. Ted internally destroys himself. "Why am I such a loser?" he asks. Yet while wesee the other suitors as freaks, we don't see Ted as one. He's just a guy who happens upon situations that make him appear perverted, sociopathic and pathetic. We root for Ted because he represents the nightmares that come from the "what if?" thinking we so frequently apply to any challenge in life. It is no accident that the film employs singer/poet Jonathan Richman--the "straight" guy next to "hippy Johnny"--to serve as a Greek chorus. Richman is the musical expression for every nice, intelligent, borderline-bitter guy who doesn't get the girl. But hedid get the Farrellys' picture. Perhaps those who deride the brothers will also getit--if they're smart enough to see the movie. |
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