SOXTALK'S TOP 50 FUNNIEST MOVIES

[southsider2k5]

If you don't think Caddyshack is funny, something is seriously wrong with your sense of humor.

 

 

Also, Blazing Saddles is a fantastic choice, hilariously great movie. It was on 7 lists, and 4 of which it was listed #1. That's a really telling fact (although it definitely should have been on all 23 )

 

I think the age of BS has something to do with its rank, especially when you look at all of the "new" movies on the list. I seriously consider it, by far, the greatest comedy of all time, and its not even close. The one liners, the double entres and the suble genius that is Mel Brooks really shown through in that movie. I think I have seen it at least 100 times over the years, and it never gets old.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I don't know if this counts because it was supposed to be a kids' film, but I don't think I've ever seen a worse movie than "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2". Now I realize that Scott Baio has very limited job offers and he's going to take what he can, but I don't know how Jon Voight even lives with himself after helping to serve up this $hit sandwich.

[FlaSoxxJim]

I think the age of BS has something to do with its rank, especially when you look at all of the "new" movies on the list. I seriously consider it, by far, the greatest comedy of all time, and its not even close. The one liners, the double entres and the suble genius that is Mel Brooks really shown through in that movie. I think I have seen it at least 100 times over the years, and it never gets old.

 

I quite like it too, but I think Young Frankenstein is Mel's high water mark.

[BigEdWalsh]

Since there's a lull in the list here and we were discussing bad movies a few pages back, let me throw a question at you guys. What do you think is the worst "legitimate" movie you have seen? What I mean is this, OK, it's easy to rip apart Manos and Orgy of the Dead, God knows I have spent countless 'bad movie nights' with my friends doing the same, but Hollywood has made some legitimate busts too.

 

any of you have a film that falls in this category?

 

Would "Showgirls" fall into a legitimate movie category? That was a mighty bad movie.

I can also think of a LOT of movie sequels that should never have seen the light of day. Probably the worst sequel to a good movie would be any of the Jaws sequels. If Blues Brothers 2000 could be considered a sequel or for that matter a legitimate movie that would rank real high on the bad movie list, too.

[vandy125]

I think the age of BS has something to do with its rank, especially when you look at all of the "new" movies on the list. I seriously consider it, by far, the greatest comedy of all time, and its not even close. The one liners, the double entres and the suble genius that is Mel Brooks really shown through in that movie. I think I have seen it at least 100 times over the years, and it never gets old.

 

That's another movie that didn't make my list. I'm sure its funny, but I've never gotten around to seeing the full thing. It's one of those movies that I always catch bits and pieces of on TV.

 

I usually don't feel like renting it because I know that it will be on TV, but I never actually catch the whole thing on TV. It's kind of a weird cycle that I have with certain movies and this is one of those movies.

[southsidehawkeye]

Two pop to mind: Forces of Nature and Georgia Rule. Awful. Really awful.

 

 

To add to that:

 

Attack of the Puppet People

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051381/

 

 

Assault of the Party Nerds (this one at least is supposed to be a comedy - but it is still horrible)

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096839/

 

 

 

 

Worst movies I've ever seen, although because they were so bad... I actually was entertained.

Edited April 25, 2008 by southsidehawkeye

[southsider2k5]

That's another movie that didn't make my list. I'm sure its funny, but I've never gotten around to seeing the full thing. It's one of those movies that I always catch bits and pieces of on TV.

 

I usually don't feel like renting it because I know that it will be on TV, but I never actually catch the whole thing on TV. It's kind of a weird cycle that I have with certain movies and this is one of those movies.

 

It loses A LOT on TV because it is pretty well censored to eliminate lots of the unpleasentries that were in the orginal.

[vandy125]

It loses A LOT on TV because it is pretty well censored to eliminate lots of the unpleasentries that were in the orginal.

 

That does not surprise me at all. Spaceballs was the same way.

[witesoxfan]

I think much of the reason Blazing Saddles wasn't ranked higher is something SS2k got at...most people that didn't have it listed just haven't seen it. I have no other explanation quite frankly. Either that or Animal House are the funniest movies I've ever seen, but it's probably a coin flip.

 

I haven't seen Young Frankenstein, so there's why I don't know that one. I'll have to check that out sometime.

[knightni]

Young Frankenstein > Blazing Saddles, IMO.

[BigEdWalsh]

I think much of the reason Blazing Saddles wasn't ranked higher is something SS2k got at...most people that didn't have it listed just haven't seen it. I have no other explanation quite frankly. Either that or Animal House are the funniest movies I've ever seen, but it's probably a coin flip.

 

I haven't seen Young Frankenstein, so there's why I don't know that one. I'll have to check that out sometime.

Young Frankenstein is funny no matter what, but it helps if you're familiar with the old Universal horror movies like Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, etc.

[knightni]

Young Frankenstein is funny no matter what, but it helps if you're familiar with the old Universal horror movies like Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, etc.

"What huuuge knockers!"

 

"'Sank you!"

[iamshack]

No Walter Matthau/Jack Lemon movies?

[knightni]

No Walter Matthau/Jack Lemon movies?

There is one movie that I like with Lemmon in it.

 

My Fellow Americans

 

Very underrated.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Young Frankenstein is funny no matter what, but it helps if you're familiar with the old Universal horror movies like Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, etc.

 

And that's what puts it over the top for me and lets it beat out Blazing saddles. All the Mel Brooks trademark humor is there, but additionally there is this unbelievably great homage to all the great Universal films that shaped my childhood and made me a lifelong movie monster fan.

[AssHatSoxFan]

I don't know if this counts because it was supposed to be a kids' film, but I don't think I've ever seen a worse movie than "SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2". Now I realize that Scott Baio has very limited job offers and he's going to take what he can, but I don't know how Jon Voight even lives with himself after helping to serve up this $hit sandwich.

I always hated the movie North and thought it was just a piece of crap

[knightni]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

 

5. (tie) Airplane! (1980)

 

 

(12 of 23 lists - 155 points - highest ranking #2 Milkman delivers)

 

Airplane! is an American comedy film produced, directed, and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Airplane! starred Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lorna Patterson. For release in Australia, Japan and the Philippines, Airplane! it was known as Flying High.

 

When the crew of a commercial airliner suffer food poisoning after eating their in-flight meals, it falls to Ted Striker (Robert Hays), an ex-fighter pilot, to conquer his fear of flying and land the airplane. Adding to the challenge is the fact that his ex-girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty) is a flight attendant on the aircraft. Nielsen portrays a doctor called to help the sick passengers.

 

Several actors were cast to spoof their established images: Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, and Lloyd Bridges were known for adventurous, no-nonsense tough-guy characters. Stack's role as the captain who loses his nerve in one of the earliest airline "disaster" films, The High and the Mighty (1954), is spoofed in Airplane! as is Lloyd Bridges's 1970-1971 television role as airport manager Jim Conrad in San Francisco International Airport. Peter Graves was in the made-for-TV-movie SST: Death Flight, in which an SST was unable to land due to an emergency.

 

The film's writers and directors, as well as members of their family, showed up in cameos. David and Jerry Zucker appear as two ground crew members who accidentally direct a plane into a terminal. Jim Abrahams is one of many religious zealots scattered throughout the film. Charlotte Zucker, who is David and Jerry's mother, is the woman attempting to apply makeup in the plane as it violently shifts while their sister, Susan Breslau, is the second ticket agent at the airport. Jim Abraham's mother is the woman initially sitting next to Dr. Rumack.

 

Several other cameos add to the humor through against-type casting. Ethel Merman shows up briefly as a soldier who is convinced he's Ethel Merman. This was Merman's last film appearance. Barbara Billingsley, known as June Cleaver from Leave It to Beaver, makes a brief appearance as a woman who announces she "speaks jive" and would be willing to translate. Maureen McGovern not only appears in a cameo as Sister Angelina (a spoof of the nun in Airport 1975), but as a play on her involvement as the singer of the Oscar-winning songs for big-budget disaster films, The Poseidon Adventure (1972) ("The Morning After") and The Towering Inferno (1974) ("We May Never Love Like This Again"). Jimmie Walker cameos as the man opening the hood of the plane and checking the oil before takeoff (Walker also had a minor role in the 'serious' air disaster film, The Concorde: Airport '79).

 

Howard Jarvis, the property tax reformer and author of California Proposition 13, plays the rider in the taxi that Striker is driving in the movie's opening and closing scene.

 

Early on in the movie, a still unknown Jerry Seinfeld appears in for a brief few seconds as an airport worker guiding (or misguiding) a plane into the walls of the airport terminal building! Very small role, but he is mentioned in the credits.

 

Several members of the cast in minor roles went on to better known roles. Gregory Itzin, who appears as one of the religious zealots, played President Charles Logan in the Fox series 24. David Leisure, who played one of the Hare Krishna, went on to fame as Joe Isuzu before appearing as Charlie Dietz in the sitcom Empty Nest.

 

. . .

 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's role was originally to be played by Pete Rose.

 

Singer/Songwriter Barry Manilow was considered for the role of Ted Stryker before Robert Hays was hired.

 

Airplane! is a spoof of the disaster movie genre. It was inspired by and includes various lines of dialogue and references to the 1957 film Zero Hour!.

 

The movie's dialog between Stricker and Rumack "Surely you can't be serious - I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." was voted as the #79 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

 

Airplane! was voted as the 10th-funniest American comedy in AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list and was ranked 6th on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

 

In 2000, the American Film Institute listed Airplane! as #10 on its list of the 100 funniest American films. In the same year, readers of Total Film voted it the second greatest comedy film of all time.

 

It also came second in the British 50 Greatest Comedy Films poll on Channel 4, beaten by Monty Python's The Life of Brian. Some critics claim the movie's most important achievement was ending the Airport series of movies, which could no longer be taken seriously.

 

[knightni]

Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler...

 

5. (tie) Office Space (1999)

 

 

(13 of 23 lists - 155 points - highest ranking #1 ChWRoCk2)

 

Office Space is an American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical software company during the 1990s, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs. The film's sympathetic portrayal of ordinary IT workers garnered it a cult following among those in that profession, but also addresses themes familiar to office workers and employees in general. It was filmed in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas.

 

The film depicts a group of employees in the late 1990's at Initech, a company plagued by excessive management, and the everyday annoyance of office work in a cube farm setting evocative of the Dilbert comic strip. Soon after the movie begins, two consultants (John C. McGinley and Paul Willson), nicknamed "The Bobs" since they both have the same first name, are brought in to Initech to help with cutting expenses. The workers at Initech are then interviewed in order to determine which employees will be downsized or outsourced.

 

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a programmer who spends his days updating bank software to remedy the then-expected Y2K disaster. His co-workers include Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu), who complains that no one in the US can pronounce his name correctly; Michael Bolton (David Herman), who is angry that he shares his name with the real-life singer whom he hates; and Milton Waddams (Stephen Root), a soft-spoken, fixated collator who mumbles to himself incessantly (most notably about his co-workers borrowing his stapler) and is repeatedly harassed by management, especially the callous vice president Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). Lumbergh is Peter's nemesis — a stereotypical corporate middle-manager who spends most of his time wandering the office with coffee mug in hand, wears white-collared shirts, suspenders and a belt (a fashion faux pas), and emotionlessly micromanages his employees while engaging them with superficial small talk.

 

Peter finds himself stressed, burnt out, and ineffective, and will likely be on the Bobs' downsizing list. Fortunately for him, something unusual happens during an occupational hypnotherapy session urged upon him by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Anne. The obese "occupational hypnotherapist" Dr. Swanson, portrayed by Mike McShane, suddenly dies of a heart attack before he can snap, or "unhypnotize", Peter out of a state of complete relaxation. The newly relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter finds out that Anne is cheating on him but takes the news in stride and doesn't seem to care. He announces that he will not work anymore, instead pursuing his lifelong dream of "doing nothing", and finally asking out Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), a waitress he's long wanted to date. In a parallel story, Joanna is experiencing a similar frustration with her boss regarding trivial issues, notably the "flair" on her uniform (catchy slogan buttons that supposedly contribute to the "fun" atmosphere of the restaurant). Although she wears the required number, 15, she is constantly harassed for only doing what is required, although it is never explicitly stated that she should wear more. Meanwhile, during his interview with the Bobs, Peter opens up for the first time about the absurdity of his job and of how Initech is run, including the issue with having too many managers and not having any real motivation to work except to avoid hassles. The Bobs interpret Peter's candor, easy-going attitude and lack of regard for his job as evidence that he is unmotivated in his current position and thus a prime candidate for a managerial position. Much to his surprise, and Lumbergh's dismay, Peter receives a promotion while his friends Samir and Michael, two of the department's best employees, are scheduled to be laid off. At a bar with his two friends, Peter reveals that his strange behavior is not so much due to the residual effects of hypnotism, but instead to seeing the hypnotherapist keel over in front of him, which has given him a new perspective on life, mainly to not waste it on pointless activities.

 

In order to get back at the company, the three friends decide to infect the accounting system with a computer virus, which will round down fractions of a cent from accrual of interest and transfer the leftovers into their own account over a period of years, leaving them with a cash windfall undetected by the corporation (see salami slicing). Peter, when questioned by Joanna about what he and his friends had been celebrating, attempts to diminish the sense that he is doing something illegal by comparing the theft to taking the pennies from the penny tray at a convenience store. The plan however backfires when a bug in the virus program's code causes it to take $305,326.13 in one day. The three friends are certain that such a large amount going missing in so short a time period will be noticed and result in their arrest. After a crisis of conscience, Peter decides to write a letter in which he takes all the blame for the crime. Peter slips an envelope containing the letter and the money in unsigned Travelers checks under the door of Lumbergh's office when Lumbergh is not there, expecting to be arrested soon afterwards.

 

However, all their problems are solved when Milton finally snaps due to Lumbergh, who had taken away Milton's beloved red Swingline stapler, moved his desk to a cockroach-infested storage room in the basement, and stopped sending his paychecks, fixing an accounting glitch wherein Milton had, unknown to him, been laid off years earlier but continued to come to work and be paid. Milton sets the Initech office building on fire, having warned several times that he would "set the building on fire" throughout the film, destroying all the computers and the virus code. The comic strips, pinned to the cubicle walls, seen burning in the fire are from the Cathy series.

 

After the fire was extinguished at Initech, Peter finally finds a job that makes him happy: working construction with his neighbor Lawrence (Diedrich Bader), working at the site of where Initech was formerly located cleaning up from the fire. Peter found a red Swingline stapler while shoveling up rubble from the fire, and thought of Milton. Samir and Michael get jobs at Initech rival Initrode. They stop by the Initech site to see Peter as they were going to lunch. Samir asked Peter if everything will be okay after they stole $305,326.13 from Initech and Peter told him the fire took care of everything, destroying the evidence of the crime. Michael and Samir offered to help Peter seek employment at Initrode but he told them he is fine where he is. As soon as they left he mentioned the good things about working construction: working outdoors, getting good exercise, and making plenty of bucks.

 

Milton makes his way to a resort in Mexico with the $305,326.13 he found in unsigned traveler's checks in an unmarked envelope inside Lumbergh's office. He was given the wrong drink by the waiter and they did not want to take it back for the correct drink, so Milton warned he is not leaving a tip after the waiter disappeared.

 

. . .

 

Office Space is based on the Milton series of cartoons Mike Judge created for Saturday Night Live and Liquid Television. Office Space was Mike Judge's first foray into live action film and his second full length motion picture release (the first being the animated Beavis and Butthead Do America). The promotional campaign for Office Space often associated it with Beavis and Butthead, ensuring that audiences would expect a brand of humor similar to that of the creator's previous animated efforts, rather than the relatively low-key ironic humor of this film.

 

Artie Lange also auditioned for the role of Milton. He describes his audition as being so bad it was "like a plumber who won a radio contest and got to try out for a movie."

 

Lumbergh's ring is an EarthForce Academy class ring, which Gary Cole had also worn on Crusade.

Several phrases, items and concepts from the film have found their way into common usage (particularly in office environments):

 

* PMITA prison refers to 'pound me in the ass prison' as opposed to soft time in white collar prison.

 

* TPS report — denotes any type of pointless office paperwork, based on the film's satirical example of such work.

 

* PC Load Letter — an actual HP laser printer error message indicating that the printer needs letter-sized paper, but more generally a catch-all for any nonsensical error message. The "PC" in the phrase stands for "Paper Cassette", a paper reservoir for many printers. This error is more common in Europe when printing US documents on printers loaded with size A4 paper.

 

* In the movie, the printer's unreliability finally prompts Peter, Samir and Michael to take a baseball bat to the device in an open field as "Still" by Geto Boys plays, in a scene visually referencing a violent episode in Casino. The term Office Space-style, or "Going Office Space on" is used to refer to this type of destruction.[10]

 

* Did/Didn't you get that memo? — refers to a question a worker is asked by multiple supervisors at varying levels.

 

* A case of the Mondays — refers to expressions of frustration at one's job (especially on Mondays); phrase is used by a cheery co-worker to describe Peter's attitude at the start of the film, and again later by Brian, the insufferably upbeat Chotchkie's waiter.

 

* Red Swingline stapler — The item that is the only constant in the life of abused employee Milton Waddams, who snaps after it is stolen. Swingline hadn't made red staplers in years, and a red Swingline was not available from office supply shops when Office Space was released (a prop department employee, named Ric Trzeciak, painted one PPG red, according to the film's commentary), but due to popular demand Swingline released a limited run of the red version in 2004. The official Swingline product page describes the product thus: "Discover the stapling star of any office space - the bold head-turning design and legendary performance of Swingline's Rio Red Stapler."[11]

 

* No-talent ass clown — expression of Michael Bolton's antipathy for the pop singer Michael Bolton, with whom he shares his name. The term is now used to refer to a celebrity or performer who is successful despite having only marginal talent. It is also used as a general term of derision. The term "ass clown" was also used in the film Bad Santa, by Ajay Naidu, as a tribute to this film. WWE wrestler Chris Jericho was known for using 'ass clown' during his earlier years with the company.

 

* Pieces of Flair — refers to the mass quantities of buttons and pins Joanna is required to wear while working at the fictional Friday’s-esque restaurant "Chotchkie's", as in the title of the 2005 "Special Edition, with Flair" DVD release. (Tchotchke is a Yiddish word meaning "worthless trinket"—like the pieces of flair). Peter Gibbons criticises the practice, saying, "You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear."

 

 

 

 

[knightni]

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

 

3. Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975)

 

 

(11 of 23 lists - 169 points - highest ranking #1 rangercal, vandy125)

 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin), and directed by Gilliam and Jones. It was initially conceived during a gap between the third and fourth seasons of their popular BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus.

 

In contrast to the group's first film, And Now for Something Completely Different, which was a compilation of sketches from the television series, Holy Grail was their first film composed of wholly original material. It generally spoofs the legends of King Arthur's quest to find the Holy Grail. The film was a success on its initial run and retains a large-scale cult following today.

 

King Arthur is recruiting his Knights of the Round Table throughout England. He is frustrated at every turn by anarcho-syndicalist peasants, a Black Knight that refuses to give up despite losing both his arms and legs, and guards that are more concerned with the flight patterns of swallows than their lord and master. Finally he meets up with Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Pure (also called "the Chaste"), Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot, and "the aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film", and declares them the Knights of the Round Table. When 'riding' to Camelot, they are given a quest by God to find the Holy Grail.

 

They encounter a castle with a French Taunter who says random names like 'Daffy English knnnnnnigghits'. Arthur decides that he and his knights should search for the Grail individually. After they split up, Sir Robin travels through a forest with his favourite minstrels, and encounters a Three-Headed Giant, Galahad runs across the perils of Castle Anthrax, and sees a light that is Grail-shaped, Sir Lancelot massacres a wedding at Swamp Castle, and Arthur and Bedevere encounter the dreaded Knights who say Ni, who want a shrubbery. They each overcome their individual perils and reunite to face a bleak and terrible winter. Surviving the winter by eating Sir Robin's minstrels, they venture further to a pyromaniac enchanter named "Tim", who takes them to a cave guarded by a killer rabbit.

 

After killing the vicious Rabbit of Caerbannog with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, the knights face The Legendary Black Beast of Aaargh in a animated scene, ending because the animator suffered a "fatal heart attack," and cross the Bridge of Death that is guarded by "the old man from Scene 24". Arthur and Bedevere survive to arrive at Castle Aaargh, and face the French Taunter once more. The film ends abruptly when a group of police from the 1970s interrupt the climactic battle scene to arrest Bedevere and King Arthur for the murder of Frank, the "famous historian".

 

. . .

 

The film was the inspiration for the 2005 Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot, written by Eric Idle.

 

The film proved a success and in 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Monty Python and the Holy Grail the 5th greatest comedy film of all time.

 

he group (including Cleese) reformed in 1974 to write and star in their first feature film of new material. The film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, was based around Arthurian Legend and directed by Jones and Gilliam, the latter also drawing the film's linking animations. Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film, but it was Chapman who took the lead as King Arthur. Holy Grail was filmed on a budget of nearly £150,000; this money was raised in part with investments from rock groups such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin - and UK music industry entrepreneur Tony Stratton-Smith (founder/owner of the Charisma Records label for which the Pythons recorded).

 

The filming was apparently unpleasant. The weather was poor and the "chain mail" soaked up rain; the budget only allowed for low-quality hotels which could not provide sufficient hot water for the team to bathe every evening; Gilliam and Jones argued with each other and with the other Pythons; and the extent of Chapman's alcoholism became apparent when he began to suffer from delirium tremens during the filming. Terry Gilliam later said in an interview that "everything that could go wrong did go wrong".[1]

 

The Pythons recall that the filming of Holy Grail is the only time any of them can remember the usually amiable Palin losing his temper. This occurred when Jones and Gilliam insisted on repeatedly re-shooting a scene in which Palin played a character called "the mud eater". The scene was ultimately cut from the film.

 

The film was co-directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, the first major project for both and the first project where any members of the Pythons were behind the camera. This proved to be troublesome on the set as Jones and Gilliam had different directing styles and it often wasn't clear who was in charge. The two later Python feature films, The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, both have Jones as the sole director.

 

This film is number 40 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Monty Python and the Holy Grail the 5th greatest comedy film of all time. The next Monty Python film, Monty Python's Life of Brian, was ranked #1.

 

A 2004 poll by UK arm of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database named Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the best British picture of all time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Soxy]

(11 of 23 lists - 169 points - highest ranking #1 rangercal, vandy125)

I would have thought you of all people would list this as your number one. . .

[knightni]

Check out the funbags on that hosehound.

 

2. Dumb and Dumber (1994)

 

 

(12 of 23 lists - 173 points - highest ranking #1 SleepyWhiteSox, 3E8, TheBlackSox8)

 

Dumb and Dumber (also as Dumb & Dumber) is a comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, released in 1994. It was directed by the Farrelly Brothers and written by the Farrelly Brothers and Bennett Yellin. It is a prime example of a classic "road movie" and includes slapstick comedy and gross-out humor. Dumb and Dumber contributed to the launch of a successful career for Jim Carrey and set the foundation for many Farrelly Brothers movies to come. It has a devoted cult following.

 

Katie Kember is a modern example of this film Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) are two well-meaning, yet extremely stupid men who live together in their apartment in Providence, Rhode Island. Lloyd, a limousine driver, drives a young lady named Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly) to the airport and falls hopelessly in love with her. After entering the airport, Mary leaves a briefcase in the middle of a terminal area, before her departure to Aspen, Colorado. Upon seeing this, Lloyd rushes in to return it to Mary, thinking she has forgotten it; what he does not know is that the briefcase is intentionally left behind because it contains ransom money for the man who had kidnapped Mary's husband.

 

Lloyd - after being fired from his job - returns to his apartment at the same time as the also-fired and equally dimwitted friend Harry, who works for a dog groomer, owns a car that looks like a sheepdog (based on his line of work) and delivers dogs to dog shows. The two leave briefly to search for new jobs, but to no avail (unless they want to work "40 hours a week."). After returning, Harry discovers his pet parakeet Petey has died due to his head 'falling off'; unknown to him, the bird was actually murdered by Mary's husband's kidnappers, who tracked Lloyd back to his place. Having suffered the loss of both their jobs and their pet in one day, in addition to constantly running from creditors, Lloyd suggests that they leave Providence behind and head off to Aspen, Colorado, ("A place where the beer flows like wine, and the women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrono."), where they can return the briefcase to Mary, and become a part of the town's social scene. After an emotional scene where they embrace, they head out, but not before Lloyd sells the dead bird to a blind kid (along with a couple of baseball cards and a sack of marbles).

 

Harry and Lloyd trek westward across the country in the sheepdog van in hopes of finding Mary, encountering several misfortunes and adversaries along the way. Joe 'Mental' Mentalino (Mike Starr), one of the people hired by Mary's husband's kidnapper, tries to foil Lloyd and Harry's plans by hitching a ride with them to a nearby restaurant. But his plans fail when Lloyd and Harry accidentally feed him rat poison, after an unsuccessful prank involving "atomic peppers" (which backfired because they didn't know he had stomach ulcers).

 

Harry dozes off and lets Lloyd drive, resulting in a wrong turn which takes them back in the wrong direction. However, Lloyd makes up for his mistake and "totally redeems himself" by trading the van for a mini scooter and the pair continue to Colorado. Once they arrive in Aspen, they realize that they are strapped for cash and have no place to stay. During a quarrel, they accidentally break the case open to discover for the first time that the briefcase is filled with cash. Upon discovering this, they start spending the money very elaborately, with the intention of paying it back with paper IOUs. Later in the visit, the two find Mary at a wildlife preservation benefit. Being too nervous to do it himself, Lloyd sends Harry in to talk to Mary and tell her that they have got her briefcase. Harry, however, uses the opportunity to organize himself a date with Mary, without telling his friend about it. When Lloyd discovers Harry's two-timing ways, he sabotages his date with Mary by putting 'Turbo Lax' into Harry's tea, and while Harry is trapped inside Mary's broken bathroom dealing with bowel movements, Lloyd goes to her house and tells her that he has the briefcase at his hotel room. Mary leaves Harry at home and rushes off with Lloyd to his hotel room, where Mary's husband's kidnapper awaits them. He turns out to be Nicholas Andre (Charles Rocket), a close friend of the Swanson family. When Harry returns to the hotel room as well, after his disastrous date, Nicholas tells his three victims to choose who gets to be shot first, and Harry volunteers. Nicholas shoots him assumingly dead, but Harry suddenly gets up and starts firing his own gun at Nicholas (badly missing every shot in the process). At that moment, FBI agents storm in, and arrest Andre and his other accomplice J.P. Shay. (It turns out the FBI got hold of Harry in the hotel's lobby and gave him a gun and a bullet-proof vest.) Mary's husband has returned to her, and Lloyd becomes jealous, suddenly daydreaming of shooting Mary's husband. Afterwards, Lloyd and Harry are left to find a way home for themselves.

 

Along the way home, they inadvertently turn down a chance to be oil boys for Hawaiian Tropic bikini models, instead walking off together, playing a game of tag on a lonely desert highway, heading home.

 

. . .

 

Jim Carrey chipped his tooth years earlier, but had the cap removed for the film to make his character look more deranged.[1]

 

Jim Carrey refused to shoot the original scripted ending of Harry and Lloyd getting on the bus with the girls, claiming that his character is too dumb to do so.

 

The lines 'the most annoying sound in the world' and 'we've landed on the moon!' were ad-libbed by Carrey as well as the scene where Lloyd meets two men with Big Gulps outside of 7-11.[citation needed]

 

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Dumb and Dumber the 15th greatest comedy film of all time.

 

Jim Carrey was offered Jeff Daniels' role as it had more dialogue; he chose the role he played because it had more physical comedy.[citation needed]

 

Scenes taking place in Aspen were actually filmed in Breckenridge, Colorado and Park City, Utah.

 

After the guys pull the bill-paying stunt on Sea Bass, Harry asks Lloyd where he got that idea. Lloyd tells him that he saw it in a movie. This is a reference to the movie Something Wild in which Jeff Daniels does the same thing to Ray Liotta.

 

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO was transformed into the "Danbury Hotel" for the filming of the movie.

 

The Stanley Hotel was also used as The Overlook Hotel in the television remake of The Shining.

 

Mary Swanson and Lloyd Christmas were objects of each other's affections, and if they became married, Mary would take Lloyd's last name and become Mary Christmas (Lloyd even points this out in the unrated edition).

 

In the screenplay, the part when Lloyd falls asleep at the wheel and dreams about Mary, instead of the headlights (of the oncoming truck) being in her breasts, they are in her eyes.

[knightni]

I would have thought you of all people would list this as your number one. . .

 

It's kinda worn on me the last few years.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

Out of curiousity, what was the total number of appearences for the movie that the most people nominated.

[Controlled Chaos]

With only one spot left some good ones are definitely gonna be left out...

 

Animal House

Blues Brothers

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

[southsider2k5]

With only one spot left some good ones are definitely gonna be left out...

 

Animal House

Blues Brothers

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

 

I am pretty sure Blues Brothers is in here already.