For 20 years, the Farrelly brothers have demonstrated a single-minded commitment to continuing the Mel Brooks/Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker tradition of The Gag, and an almost admirable refusal to give a rat’s ass if anybody else finds those gags offensive, or annoying, or just not funny. They revisit their original moron heroes, Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey), for a road-trip premise—seeking out the biological daughter (Rachel Melvin) Harry never knew about—that’s just a framework on which to hang those gags. And while there’s really nothing particular great about Harry and Lloyd as characters that makes them worth revisiting, there sure are a handful of magnificently ridiculous comedic payoffs here: a fantasy sequence in which Harry offers helpful advice to his daughter upon the occasion of her womanhood; the fate of the lads’ infamous dog-decorated vehicle; a special forces agent emerging from unlikely camouflage. Yes, other jokes fall flat, or aren’t worth the gross or overly-involved set-ups. But by God, they will keep throwing those gags at the wall, and sooner or later, a few of them are going to stick.
By
Scott Renshaw
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Movies opening Nov. 14
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