Mutant Reviewers from Hell do "There's Something About Mary"

Mutant Reviewers from Hell do

There's Something About Mary

"Oh man! How'd you get the beans above the frank?"

Summary Capsule

Everyone's in love with Mary, causing the Massive Stalker Riot of 1998

reviews

Justin's Rating: air! AIIIIR! I can't BREATHE!
Justin's Review: I waited for almost four months after this movie came out to see it. Then I saw it twice in one week, perminently rupturing my diaphram (no, my OTHER diaphram). Remember when I said Dirty Work was the funniest new film this year? Scratch that and scribble There's Something About Mary in.

"I'm in church, the next day, and still snickering as I recall how Dillon jump-starts the pooch."
I've found that comedies that take the viewpoint that no subject is sacred are often the best comedies out there. Mary tackles subjects like masturbating, homosexual rest areas, dead dogs, speed, and mentally challenged people with deft and daft hands. But first: THE PLOT.

Ben Stiller is in love with Cameron Diaz, perhaps because she's practically exposing herself the entire movie. So he goes down to Florida (I fear the mutant mosquitoes) to make her his love puppy. Ben, a guy who utterly bombed as a host on the '98 MTV video awards, actually plays a great straight man admist the chaos that ensues. Pat (Matt Dillon), a P.I. with no scruples and bad teeth (think Austin Powers in reverse), jumps into the fray, as well as... well, a lot of other people.

Some comedies are "quoters", making their laughs from great one-liners. Mary is a "scener", I suppose. It builds up several great scenes and milks them for all they're worth. These scenes, including one empathically painful zipper scene, just about made me and my friends pass out because we could not breathe. I'm in church, the next day, and still snickering as I recall how Dillon jump-starts the pooch. Just perfect!

Of course, it's a tad offensive. But don't let that stop you, if you're a twisted person with several demented friends looking for something above the new Matt Damon or Jamie Lee Curtis flick. Go see, make me proud.

Kyle's Rating: I saw this in the theater four times! I don’t see Bond films four times!
Kyle's Review: What can I say? This is not only a fantastically funny movie, it’s also one to talk about with your friends afterwards and laugh about all the crazy shenanigans over a buffet dinner. Before I even saw this movie I heard about some of the jokes and situations from an increasingly-incoherent-from-laughter friend, who managed to blurt out something about the Green Bay Packers before he ran off, presumably to vomit. But I digress.

"You’ll stain your seat from the opening high school sequence."
Ben Stiller portrays the kind of loser writer dude nobody wants to own up to being but can secretly relate to. The object of his affection through high school and beyond is Cameron Diaz, who portrays the greatest type of woman you can find and manages to be incredibly smart while completely naïve to being pursued by endless stalkers. Matt Dillon is the bad boy, who is asked by Ben to locate Cameron (Mary) and decides he wants her for himself. You’ll stain your seat from the opening high school sequence, and calm down as the modern story unfolds, only to start laughing uncontrollably again. Fantastic fun all around, you’ll never look at certain bodily fluids or your high school crush the same way again.

extras

The Scoop

[rating]
R

[year]
1998

[genre]
Romantic Gross-Out Comedy

[director]
Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly

[starring]
Cameron Diaz
Matt Dillon
Ben Stiller
Chris Elliott

Movie Store!
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VHS movie
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Soundtrack
Mutant Gear
Didja Notice? [some sources: IMDb]

One detective in the scene at the police station with Ben Stiller says, "I'm Detective Stabler, this is Detective Krevoy." These names are a reference to the film's producers, Steve Stabler and Brad Krevoy.
Chris Elliot uses the phrase "cleaning one's pipes" as a sexual euphemism. Elliot's character in Cabin Boy used the same euphemism.
Ted brings Warren a baseball autographed by Tony Conigliaro. Conigliaro played for the Boston Red Sox in the 60s and was seriously injured when he was hit in the face by a pitched fastball, echoing Warren's accident in the previous montage.
When Ted goes out to pee after talking with the hitchhiker, he encounters many homosexuals. Almost all of them are crew members.
During the scene in which Ted and Mary are sitting on Ted's car in front of Mary's house, during their first date, you can see that in the background of a house right behind them, towards the top someone is making hand puppets in the light and you can see these hand puppets for several minutes during the scene.
The film involves two guys fighting over a girl named Mary. In another Farrely Brothers film, "Dumb & Dumber", two guys also fight over a girl named Mary in the second half of the film.
Cameron Diaz admitted being the body inside the bag carried by the hitchhiker, played by Harland Williams.
When Ted pulls up to Mary's house to take her to the prom, the song "Mary's Prayer" can be heard on the radio. The prom takes place in 1985 and the song was not released until 1987.

Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?

Oh yeah... There's a montage of scenes from the film as well as outtakes involving the cast lip-synching to The Foundations' song "Build Me Up Buttercup" runs during the credits.

Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]

Football star Steve Young was originally supposed to play the part of Mary's secret love. However, as a practicing Mormon, he declined, due to the nature of the movie.

The high school scene in the beginning was shot at Plantation's City Hall in Florida. Upon seeing a rough cut of the film, and displeased with the raunchiness, city council members requested that Plantation not be acknowledged in the credits.

Official and Not-So-Official Websites

Official TSAM site

I'm hooked on Ben!

Groovy Quotes

Pat Healy: Husband... negative. Children and a Labrador... negative. Tight little package... affirmative.

Pat: That's not my real passion, though.
Mary: What's that?
Pat: I work with retards. . . I love those goofy bastards.

Pat: [the dog is dying] Stay away from the light!

Ted: I couldn't believe that she knew my name. Some of my best friends didn't know my name.

Ted: What about Brett Fav... ruh?

Mary: You've been to Nepal?
Pat Healy: Not in months, I don't know why I bought the damn place.

Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.
Ted: Right. Yes. OK, alright. I see where you're going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted: You guarantee it? That's -- how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
Ted: That's right. That's -- that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
Ted: That -- good point.
Hitchhiker: 7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 doors. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby.

Ted: I think I still want to look her up.
Pat Healy: Who, rollerpig? Are you nuts?
Ted: You said she was a real sparkplug.
Pat Healy: No, I said buttplug. She's heinous.

Ted: Japan? What's she doing in Japan?
Pat Healy: Well, you've heard of mail-order brides? Well, they go that way too.
Ted: What, are they desperate? She's a whale!
Pat Healy: You can't forget, it's a sumo culture, Ted. They pay by the pound over there. Sorta like, um, tuna.

Charlie Jensen: Is it the frank or the beans?
Ted: I don't know, both I guess.
Warren: [from outside] Franks and Beans! Franks and Beans!

Charlie: Oh man! How'd you get the beans above the frank?

DVD Review

The first thing you want to notice on this DVD is the kooky menu animation (the main menu has Puffy jumping around, taking away and bringing out new pictures). Otherwise, this is a fairly loaded DVD that'll up the replay value a bit (like it needed any!). Extras include the trailer, a cool commentary by the Farrelly brothers (who, among other things, point out connections between this movie and their other films), the "Build Me Up Buttercup" music video (slightly different from the end credits version), an outtakes reel put to music (muy hysterical), cast & crew info, and and a karaoke version of "Build Me Up Buttercup" (with even more different footage!). This DVD makes me smile.

If you liked this movie, try these:

Tommy Boy

Kingpin

Dumb and Dumber

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