Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd - 2003

"Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" - 2003
Dir. by Troy Miller - 1 hr. 26 min.

Official Trailer

by Clayton Hollifield

I don't want to sidestep the fundamental issues surrounding "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd."  This is not a good movie.  This is nothing compared to it's predecessor.  Everything about this film screams "straight-to-video" so loudly that it's difficult to remember that it was, in fact, a theatrical release.  Having said all of that, it's also not nearly as bad as you'd have every right to think it ought to be.  I laughed, dammit, I laughed.

What we've got here is a prequel to the Farrelly brothers' smash hit, "Dumb and Dumber."  Whereas the original starred Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, and was riotously funny, I'm not sure there are any holdover actors from that film to this one.  This is a high-school movie, where Harry (Derek Richardson) meets Lloyd (Eric Christian Olsen), and are immediately recognized as the dolts that they are.  Principal Collins (Eugene Levy) and lunch-lady Ms. Heller (Cheri Oteri) hatch a plot to defraud the school district of $100k, which requires creating a "special needs class."  Resident smart hottie Jessica (Rachel Nichols) is on the hunt for a big story for the school newspaper, and smells something off about the special needs class.  Meanwhile, Harry mistakes Jessica's interest in his involvement in the class for genuine interest in him.

Shia LeBeouf may not be famous anymore, but he surely cashed his paycheck for his work on this film.  And, in fact, there are a bunch of people that you might recognize in this film, which is kind of weird.  Aside from Eugene Levy and Cheri Oteri, Mimi Rogers, Luis Guzman, Brian Posehn (for you comedian nerds out there) and Bob Saget all have small roles.  None of that adds up to a good reason to check "Dumb and Dumberer" out, but it's a nice bonus if you're already strapped in for the ride.  What there is here is a ton of really dumb humor, and if that's your cup of tea (admittedly, it is sometimes mine), there's some good material here.  The two stars do a decent job of aping the characters they're supposed to be, and their idiotic dialogue is decent.  But what the whole thing comes down to is this: I can't entirely hate a movie with this vehicle in it:

from the IMCDB

It's not just a short bus, it's the shortest bus!  And there's even a car chase involving it!  Look, this bus is far too awesome of an idea for a movie like this, and yet here it is, just sitting around being awesome in something that should have been a direct-to-video movie that everyone forgot about two days later.  It kind of makes me mad that such an awesome car is wasted on a project that's ceiling is honestly pretty low.  And, at the same time, should I find myself the recipient of a large jackpot, I'm getting one of these bad boys custom made, and driving the hell out of it.

There are other jokes that land in "Dumb and Dumberer," as well.  Again, I'm not going to pretend it's a good movie; it isn't.  But it seems to be more a victim of being a terrible idea (ie, a sequel in name only, including none of the talent that made the franchise's name in the first place) than being terribly executed, because it isn't that, either.  It's a solid dumb comedy, which isn't an oxymoron (you're an oxymoron!), there are some familiar faces, and if you don't hold it to the standard of "Dumb and Dumber," you might laugh, too.
2 / 5 - TV (HD)

Constantine - 2005

"Constantine" - 2005
Dir. by Francis Lawrence - 2 hrs. 1 min.

Official Trailer

by Clayton Hollifield

Probably the most important things to know about this movie is that it's "based" on the long-running DC/Vertigo comic book series, "Hellblazer," and that it features a character co-created by Alan Moore (as well as artists Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch).  What does that mean for you?  A legion of people who were prepared to hate this movie from the get-go (and I'll get to the reasons in a minute) got to it before others did, and spread their hatred far and wide.  Ordinarily, it wouldn't even be worth discussing, but this is a pretty decent film once you divorce it from it's source material (and one of it's creators).

First off, Alan Moore.  Whether or not he's right (and that's strictly a matter of opinion), he does have a habit of complaining loudly and publicly disavowing any movie that's made based on one of his creations.  Or another way to put it is that someone from the media shows up on his doorstep every time a movie is made based on one of Moore's creations, knowing that he'll say something inflammatory and spectacular.  However you look at it, it's like clockwork.  He has no problems publicly sabotaging movies based on his work, and does so out of a general moral objection to adapting creative works to different medium.  Secondly, what you see on-screen bears little resemblance to the comics work, other than the general idea and the general adaptation of one of the better Hellblazer graphic novels, titled "Dangerous Habits."  Whereas the character was initially supposed to resemble Sting (from The Police, not the wrestler) in a trenchcoat and was a cynical Brit, the filmmakers decided to cast Keanu Reeves in the main role.  So you can understand why fans of the character might not have been inclined to view this movie in a charitable manner going in.

I don't consider the changes to be necessary ones, but they were made, and there is no imaginary perfectly-strict adaptation to compare this Keanu Reeves version to.  That leaves a potential viewer a couple of reasonable options.  One is to say that the changes are absurd, and to stay far away.  The other is that you have to accept what is here, and take it at face value.  What is not reasonable is to watch it so that you can complain about it.  Yes, "Hellblazer" would have been an excellent title, but try to get a film with "hell" in the title into multiplexes.  Not impossible, but a needless battle to fight during the Bush administration.  Yes, it probably would have made more sense to cast a fair-skinned British actor in the lead, but they didn't.  It's set in Los Angeles and not London, no matter how much pouting and crying anyone does over that fact.  The question is, can you just shut up and enjoy what's here?  If not, the exit is to your left.

The story is kind of a tortured religious logic one: there are extra books to the Bible that us common folk don't know about, and they explain how the son of Satan (not the Marvel Comics character) will try to come to Earth.  Until then, demons and angles live among us incognito, playing their roles in a cosmic bet between God and the Devil to see who can collect more souls.  The demons are becoming more brazen, which concerns John Constantine (Keanu Reeves), but his lung cancer also concerns him.  The other main character, Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz), a detective, discovers that her recently-committed twin sister has committed suicide, which she finds unlikely considering the large religious consequences for her soul.  John and Angela end up working together to try to unravel what happened to Angela's sister and for the recent aggressiveness of the demons.

Does this measure up to the best "Hellblazer" comics?  Probably not.  The structure of the movie is Franchise Establishment 101; Constantine has a young apprentice, Chas Kramer (Shia LeBeouf) to spin-off in the future, there's a Magical Negro (TM Spike Lee) in Papa Midnite (Djimon Hounsou) with a shady past (there's your prequel), and there's an implied future romance between Constantine and Dodson.  And they don't even kill the big bad guy (that would be Satan himself, played with creepy awesomeness by Peter Stormare).  Hell, they've even got the music crossover locked down with Gavin Rossdale's character.  The entire design of the story is textbook.

But the execution is pretty fun, and that goes a long way.  The settings look fantastic; even Hell is a creepy swirl of warm colors and nasty creatures.  Keanu does the Keanu thing, there's some perverse pleasure in watching a British actress try to pull off an American accent, and the bit players rock.  Swinton and Stormare in particular are a ball to watch (not at all unusual).  If you're open to it, there's fun to be had here. If you're in the mood to nit-pick, there's certainly fuel for that fire as well, but for a spooky/action movie, "Constantine" isn't bad at all.  It's not a good adaptation of the source material, but taken on its own, it's a solid movie that could have been the foundation for an on-going franchise if things had played out a little differently.

3 / 5 - Blu-Ray