July 16–23, 1998

movie shorts

There's Something About Mary

The Farrelly brothers (Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin) return with a lumpy mixture of romantic comedy and their usual brand of gross-out humor. Beginning with what might be the ultimate prom-night nightmare, the film jumps forward a dozen years, where former geek Ben Stiller is still obsessed about having blown his chance with Mary (Cameron Diaz). He hires seedily mustached private eye Matt Dillon to track her down, but Dillon falls for her as well, and the two enter into a prolonged and twisted battle for Mary's heart. The script (credit goes to two other authors besides the Farrellys) is a jerky hodgepodge which never achieves a consistent tone or coherent plot, and the movie occasionally has the feel of a bunch of loosely connected sketches which never gel into a complete story. But while some of the gags misfire and others seem to end before they've started, a great many are outrageously funny. A surprisingly charismatic performance from Diaz anchors the movie and clues you in as to what all those men are fighting about, but Dillon, who obviously needs a strong directorial hand, doesn't have one here, and flails about without ever deciding who his character is. As many bonus points as there are in heaven are awarded for the inclusion of the delightful Jonathan Richman as a sort of Greek chorus/stalker, who persistently turns up in the middle of a scene to musically clue us in on the action.

—Sam Adams