Dumb and Dumber (1994)

**tak sakaguchi** Qua Mar 11, 2009 1:30 pm

Lloyd Christmas is a rather inept and simple-minded limousine driver in Providence, Rhode Island, who becomes infatuated with his passenger, Mary Swanson, as he drives her to the airport. Mary is heading home to her family in Aspen, Colorado. She drops off a briefcase with a large sum of cash at the airport terminal, as ransom money for her kidnapped husband, unbeknown to Lloyd. Lloyd witnesses the drop-off, and, thinking Mary has left the briefcase by mistake, intercepts the package before the kidnapper's accomplices pick up their pay, dashing ahead of them to snag the briefcase. Lloyd is unable to catch Mary in time, and is left on the tarmac of the airport with briefcase in hand (after having run off the end of an empty jet bridge).

Harry Dunne, Lloyd's roommate, is in the pet grooming business, and has recently spent his life savings converting his van (a 1984 Ford Econoline) into a sheepdog. Both Lloyd and Harry quickly lose their jobs due to preventable accidents, and the two are distraught over their situation. Thinking Lloyd is a "professional" hired by the Swansons, or perhaps an FBI agent, the kidnappers exact revenge on Harry and Lloyd. Shortly after returning home, Lloyd and Harry are alarmed by the kidnapper's at their door, one of them being armed. So the two escape through their back window with the briefcase. While the pair are out looking for new jobs, the kidnappers behead Harry's pet parakeet. After they return home, Lloyd, who had just been robbed of beer and other goods by "a sweet old lady on a motorized cart", convinces Harry they should leave their messed-up lives in Providence behind and head for Aspen to return the briefcase to Mary, unaware the locked briefcase contains enough money to support them both. The kidnappers both learn of their intentions and pursue the two Aspen-bound men.

On their way to Aspen, Harry and Lloyd have several misadventures. They pick up one of the kidnappers, Joe 'Mental' Mentalino (Mike Starr), who says that his car broke down, and the other kidnapper (Karen Duffy) follows them. When the trio stop at a restaurant for lunch, Lloyd and Harry inadvertently kill 'Mental' by accidentally feeding him rat poison. Later, the two wind up separating when Lloyd accidentally takes a wrong turn and drives them to Nebraska instead of Colorado. With the two virtually out of gas and Harry being infuriated by Lloyd's mistake, he begins walking home, but Lloyd is able to trade the van for a small scooter, he catches up with Harry and the two proceed to Aspen.

Unable to remember Mary's last name, or locate her in the phone directory, the two spend a cold night in a park. They end up in a scuffle, and in the process knock open the briefcase and discover the money. The two decide to "spend it responsibly" and keep track of all expenditures with "I.O.U.'s", but they end up living extravagantly, they check-in at a luxury hotel, buy a Lamborghini Diablo, have full body make-overs, and get expensive, off-color suits. Lloyd tries to use the money to woo Mary before revealing he has the briefcase, but Mary ends up befriending Harry, whose stupidity she mistakes for intentional humor. Harry and Lloyd both mistake Mary's friendship with Harry as a romantic interest.

Eventually the two are found out by the man behind the kidnapping plot, Nicholas Andre, a long time confidant of the Swanson family, who holds the three in their hotel room at gunpoint. When Lloyd reveals all the money is gone, replaced with I.O.U.'s written on dirty napkins, the kidnapper freaks and almost kills the pair. The FBI intercept, and Mary is reunited with her husband, much to Lloyd's dismay, who didn't even realize Mary was married.

With no money, the two begin to walk home. Along the way, they inadvertently turn down a chance to be oil boys for Hawaiian Tropic bikini models, instead walking off together, saying to each other how two lucky guys will get to tour all over the country rubbing down the girls before shows. Harry reassures Lloyd that "someday we'll get our big break too, we've just got to keep our eyes open".

Directed by Peter Farrelly,
Bobby Farrelly
Produced by Brad Krevoy
Written by Bennett Yellin,
Peter Farrelly
Starring Jim Carrey
Jeff Daniels
Lauren Holly
Mike Starr
Karen Duffy
Charles Rocket