Contents


THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY


Warning: The guys who did 'Dumb & Dumber' and 'Kingpin' bring you a love story

1998




There's Something About Mary (1998)  

Directed by 
Bobby Farrelly    
Peter Farrelly    
  
Writing credits (in credits order) 
Ed Decter   & 
John J. Strauss   and 
Peter Farrelly   & 
Bobby Farrelly    
  
Cast (in credits order) 
Cameron Diaz ....  Mary Jensen Matthews  
Matt Dillon ....  Pat Healy  
Ben Stiller ....  Ted Stroehmann  
Lee Evans (I) ....  Tucker  
Chris Elliott (I) ....  Dom!  
Lin Shaye ....  Magda  
Jeffrey Tambor ....  Sully  
Markie Post ....  Mrs. Jensen  
Keith David (I) ....  Mary's Step-Father  
W. Earl Brown ....  Warren Jensen  
Sarah Silverman ....  One of Mary's Friends  
Khandi Alexander ....  Mary's friend  
Marnie Alexenburg ....  Lisa  
Danny Murphy  (as Dan Murphy)  
Richard Tyson ....  Violent interrogator  
Rob Moran   
Jackie Flynn   
Hillary Matthews ....  Dom's Wife  
Willie Garson ....  Chiropractor  
David Shackelford   
Dave Goryl ....  Petey  
Lori Glick   
Jeffrey P. Lerner   
Cory Pendergast   
Brett Favre ....  Himself  
Warren Tashijan   
Kelly Roarke   
Herbie Flynn   
Caryl West   
Ken Rogerson   
Brad Blank ....  Paramedic #1  
Steve Sweeney ....  Cop  
Cindy Oliver ....  Renise  
Will Coogan   
Steve Tyler (II)   
Maureen Griffin   
Docky  (as The Artist Formerly Known as Docky)  
Mariann Farrelly   
Jonathan Richman ....  Greek Chorus Singer  
Tommy Larkins ....  Greek Chorus Drummer  
Lenny Clarke ....  Fireman  
Daniel Greene ....  Pizza House Man  
Lagena Greene   
Michael K. Budge   
James Gifford   
Sean Gildea ....  Warden  
Zen Gesner ....  Bartender  
Tracy Anne George   
Jesse Farrelly   
Anna Farrelly   
rest of cast listed alphabetically  
George Bedard ....  Jailbird  
Helena Christensen   
Kevin Civale ....  Cuban dancer  
Jon Favreau   
Richard Jenkins (I)   
Don Julio ....  Jailbird  
Rick Michaels ....  Restaurant Waiter  
Terry Mullany ....  Jailbird  
Ed Nelson ....  Jailbird  
Billy Smith (V) ....  Jailbird  
Brian Stube ....  Prison guard  
Harland Williams ....  Hitchhiker  
  
Produced by 
Frank Beddor    
Mark Charpentier   (associate)  
Bobby Farrelly   (executive)  
Peter Farrelly   (executive)  
Marc S. Fischer   (co-producer)  
Patrick Healy   (associate)  
James B. Rogers (II)   (co-producer)  
Michael Steinberg    
Bradley Thomas    
Charles B. Wessler    
  
Original music by 
Jonathan Richman    
  
Additional music by 
Georges Bizet   (from opera "Carmen")  
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart    
  
Cinematography by 
Mark Irwin (I)    
  
Film Editing by 
Christopher Greenbury    
  
Casting 
Rick Montgomery    
  
Art Direction 
Arlan Jay Vetter    
  
Set Decoration 
Scott Jacobson    
  
Costume Design by 
Mary Zophres    
  
Make-up Department 
Jay Cannistraci ....  make-up artist: photo doubles (uncredited) 
Voni Hinkle ....  key hair stylist  
  
Assistant Director 
James B. Rogers (II) ....  assistant director  
  
Sound Department 
Vanessa Lapato ....  supervising adr editor  
Steve F. Price ....  assistant sound editor  
Jonathon 'Earl' Stein ....  sound  
John Joseph Thomas ....  sound editor  
  
Other crew 
Sydney J. Bartholomew Jr. ....  visual consultant  
Jerry Bertolami ....  dolly grip  
Jeffrey N. Civa ....  second assistant camera  
P. Todd Coe ....  post supervisor  
Egor Davidoff ....  camera loader  
Steve Gehrke ....  script supervisor  
Leslie Herman ....  wardrobe supervisor  
Keith Jackson (III) ....  assitant to producer  
Josh Klausner ....  second unit director  
Dave Knight ....  art production assistant  
Larry Madaras ....  first assistant editor  
Ernie Malik ....  unit publicist  
Denis Maloney ....  camera operator  
Gordon Miller ....  director of photograghy: second unit
camera operator  
Manish Raval ....  music co-ordinator  
Nicholas J. Romanac ....  property master  
Todd Romanac ....  assistant property master  
Sam Seig ....  first assistant editor  
Bubba Sheffield ....  key grip  
Christopher Tuffin ....  product placement and clearance co-ordinator
production supervisor: second unit  
Gary Katsuya Ushino ....  first assistant camera  
Happy Walters ....  music supervisor  
Tom Wolfe (I) ....  music supervisor  
Jay W. Yowler ....  gaffer  
 

 


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THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****):  *** 1/2

Count the funny one-liners. That's the measure of most good comedies today.

The Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter, who brought us DUMB & DUMBER and KINGPIN, take an entirely different approach. Relying on funny plots, as opposed to single lines, and on great physical comedy, they manage in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY to produce a movie that should come with two warnings. One, people may laugh so hard, as our audience did, that they are in danger of rupturing internal organs. (At our advanced screening, I heard louder laughter than at any movie since PRIVATE PARTS. The laughs sounded like small explosions.) Two, the Farrelly brothers are proudly ignorant as to what might constitute inappropriate humor.

The story starts in a high school in Rhode Island, where the nerdy Ted is trying to find a date for the prom. Thus far all he has been able to get is one homely girl who says that she might go with him if things don't work out with her intended date. Through an incredible stroke of luck, the most beautiful girl in the school, the lithe and dazzling Mary Jenson, asks him to be her date. Mary, everyone agrees, is "a fox."

With enough metal in his mouth to set off airport metal detectors, Ben Stiller from FLIRTING WITH DISASTER plays the unconfident Ted. In one of her best performances yet, Cameron Diaz plays Mary with grace and charm. Comedy comes so naturally to Diaz that she seems to be barely acting. Her performance is as captivating as it is funny.

Ted and Mary's date is not to be. Dressed in a tan and taupe tux, Ted goes to the bathroom at Mary's house and has that problem of which all men live in fear. He gets it caught in his zipper. It is in this long sequence that the movie first demonstrates its comedic brilliance. Most movies would dissolve into bad slapstick if they attempted to stay with this one idea for so long. The Farrelly's, helped by the extremely expressive Stiller, keep the joke going for longer that you would ever image, and they make it much more explicit than you might guess. The result is sure to have at least half of the audience grimacing in pain as everyone laughs so hard their sides may split.

(The stuck-in-the-zipper routine isn't even close to the movie's most outlandish part. Much later there is a masturbation sequence so funny that it almost brings the house down with laugher.)

The movie skips ahead 13 years with the now reasonably handsome Ted wanting to find the girl of his dreams. Although he lost touch with Mary after high school, he has never gotten her out of his mind so he employees a slime ball investigator named Pat Healy to locate her down in Florida. Matt Dillon plays the offensive detective with a small brain and a large libido.

Since Healy falls for Mary, he tells Ted that Mary has bloated up to whale-sized proportions with four kids from three men and no rock on her finger. Plus she's in a wheelchair, etc.

Healy starts eavesdropping on Mary with electronic surveillance equipment. Whatever he overhears her saying she wants, he does - even getting himself some oversized teeth caps when he misunderstands her.

Mary's next-door neighbor, Magda (Lin Shaye), has been in the Florida sun so long that her skin has turned to leather. Her breasts are even worse.

This just gives you a flavor of this uproarious movie. I'll let you experience the rest yourselves. And I haven't even mentioned the flaming dog or a hundred other hilarious parts of this high-energy delight. Many of the scenes have unprintable descriptions anyway.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY runs 1:55. It is rated R for strong comic sexual content and language and would be fine for most teenagers.




Have I seen this movie: Yes
And what did I think: There's Something About Mary is a fresh and funny comedy brought to us by the Farrelly brothers, the same guys who gave us the hilarious dumb and dumber. I laughed throughout just about the whole movie with the great one liners and raunchy comedy. Ben Stiller gives one of his best performances here as Ted Stroehman, a geeky teenager who falls for the most beautiful girl in school, and amazingly she likes him too. After a hilarious incident on prom night, she moves away and he tries to track her down years later. Matt Dillon plays the sleazy private eye who tracks her down and ends up falling for her, along with a bunch of other guys too! There are some real funny scenes in this movie particulary the scenes with the little dog, and the hair gel scene. The plot itself is nothing ingenious, but the comedy is outrageous. If you want a movie that will make you laugh and have a good time, then this is definately worth seeing.

I give There's Something About Mary 4 out of 5 stars
Review written August 11, 1999

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