Written and Directed by the Farrelly Brothers
There most definitely is something about Mary (Cameron Diaz) and throughout the course of this film, an attempt is made to provide an explanation as to the obsessions men create over her. Arguably the Farrelly Brothers' biggest hit, this film is a sweet love story about Ted (Ben Stiller) and how he lost the love of his life, through a series of extremely gross sexual jokes that punctuate the failures of Ted's life.
After zipping parts of his penis and testicles into his fly on the day of his high school prom, Ted goes on to live a fairly uneventful life which he feels might have more meaning if he were able to find his high school love Mary and get reacquainted with her. Through the help of his friend Dom (Chris Elliot) Ted is recommended a private eye named Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) whom he hires to track Mary down. Once he does so though, Healy decides to try for her affection himself, and quits the PI business and moves to Miami, where Mary now resides. In place of an answer, Healy tells Ted that Mary is a disgusting slob with bastard children living in squalor on welfare.
Through another friend, Ted finds out Mary is still as hot as she ever was, and working as a chiropractic surgeon in Miami. He and Dom decide to drive down from Rhode Island to find out for themselves, where Ted "accidentally" runs into Mary, and their relationship resparks. What Ted quickly discovers is that Healy is also in competition for her affection, and it quickly becomes a battle for her love. Also in the mix is a crippled man named Tucker(Lee Evans) that has befriended Mary after she did surgery on his severely broken back. Tucker is the link that gets Mary to shun Healy, who discovers that Tucker's life is a ruse as well, he delivered a pizza to her as a long haired, bearded loser, and instantly fell in love. The three way battle for her attention is on, and Ted learns that the only reason she is single is because of men's tendency to become obsessed with her, but she mentions that one man came close to marrying her, a guy named Brett, whom we later find out was foiled by Tucker. Add in to the mix the fact that one of Mary's bad experiences in love was caused by Dom, and the circle of obsessions is complete.
All the men fight for her love, even though Ted is really the only one that has a chance with her. The battle gets furious, and Ted, being the only sane one, is the first to back off and leave her alone, even trying to reunite her with her past love, Brett Favre (as himself). Like Judd Apatow's comedies, what makes this movie hilarious is the use of clearly atrocious humor, mixed in with a real romantic center. Ted isn't obsessed with her as everyone else is, he truly loves her, and just wants her to be happy.
The films hilarity is created through the examination of the nature of obsession, and it is discovered that all of these men love Mary because she is a natural person, pure of heart, and she has the knack of making people feel great about themselves. The tasteless humor is intertwined throughout this theme, and the two elements create laugh out loud humor to the highest degree. One of my favorite scenes is Harland Williams' cameo as a murderous hitchhiker, whose scenes makes absolutely no sense, but creates some of the films most memorable lines. "Step into my office.....because you're fucking fired!" will forever be a classic in my mind.
As with most of the Farrelly Brothers' movies, the humor lies within the actions of the dimwitted male characters, and their pursuits for love. It is this volatile element mixed with outrageous sexual and gross out humor that made them staples of comedy, until of course they took a few odd routes with movies that didn't really play to their strengths. They assembled a great cast for this film, Lee Evans and Chris Elliot turn in career best comedic performances, with Matt Dillon cementing himself as a comedic force as well. This is the single film that made Ben Stiller a huge star, convinced everyone to fall in love with Cameron Diaz, and showed everyone the grossest set of tits they never wanted to see. To pack all of that into a single movie and still manage to create a film with a heart is a hard thing to do, and it is one of the reasons the Farrelly Brothers are so highly regarded, despite their recent failures. If only they could balance the aspects that made this film a success, maybe the biggest comedy hits of each year wouldn't be solely produced by Judd Apatow.
8.6/10
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