Dumb and Dumber To

After months of speculation, the Farrelly brothers confirmed in October 2011 that they would make a sequel to Dumb and Dumber.[16][17] The script was completed the following year in October and Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels were expected to reprise their roles, despite Carrey having temporarily withdrawn his involvement in June due to concerns that Warner Bros. had shown little enthusiasm for the sequel. In response to these developments, Daniels said he would not do the sequel without Carrey.[18][19][20]

Regarding the progress of the sequel, Peter Farrelly explained:

It's going well. We have a great script and now we are just trying to get it made. I love the script. It's exactly like the first one. We pick up 20 years later. We explain what they've done for the last 17 or 18 years. We take off from that and it's just a lot of laughs. It's at Warner Bros., and right now it's being financed outside the studio, but it will be released by Warner Bros. And that's all being worked out right now. If you liked Dumb and Dumber, you'll like this because it's the same and more. It's really fun. It's being made through Warner Bros. but now we have several financiers that are negotiating with the studio and trying to make the best deal. Whichever one does will make the movie. It's going to be made through Warner Bros. and released by Warner Bros. but financed by an outside financer.[21]

Australian band Empire of the Sun composed the score for the film.[22] In June 2013, Warner Bros. decided not to move forward with the sequel but allowed the film to be pitched to other studios.[23] Soon after, an independent company, Red Granite Pictures, agreed to finance the sequel with a $35 million budget. Universal Pictures distributed the film in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Spain, while Red Granite sold the film to independent distributors.[1] Even though Warner Bros. had no involvement in making the sequel, its New Line Cinema division, which produced the first film and its prequel, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, was given studio credit from Universal.[24][25]

Although Peter Farrelly confirmed the sequel was moving forward,[26] a lawsuit filed by Red Granite Pictures in July sought a declaration that Red Granite owes no contractual obligation to Dumb and Dumber producers Steve Stabler and Brad Krevoy and that the duo are not entitled to any producer fees or credits they claim they're contractually owed on the sequel.[27] In a counter claim, the producers of Dumb and Dumber accused the producers and Red Granite Pictures of racketeering.[28] On July 18, 2014, a request for dismissal was filed in a Los Angeles Superior Court and the case was officially settled. The announcement of the settlement listed the plaintiffs as executive producers, and all claims against Red Granite, Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland of racketeering were withdrawn. The plaintiffs said in a statement: "We apologize for naming Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland as individual defendants rather than just Red Granite".[29]

Besides Daniels and Carrey reprising their roles,[30] Kathleen Turner was cast in the role of Fraida Felcher.[31][32] Brady Bluhm reprised his role as Billy in 4C for the sequel.[14][33] Farrelly brothers frequent collaborators Bennett Yellin and Mike Cerrone co-wrote the script.[34] Screenwriting duo Sean Anders and John Morris did work on the script as well.[35]

Although Cam Neely and Boston Bruins left winger Milan Lucic were rumored to appear in the film as Sea Bass and his son respectively,[36] they said that they did not sign on to the film, but they were open to do so.[37] Neely ultimately shot a scene for the film, which appears after the credits.[38] Laurie Holden, Steve Tom, and Rachel Melvin joined the cast of the film as the Pinchelow family.[39] Jennifer Lawrence was rumored to be filming a cameo in the film as a younger Fraida Felcher which was not included in the final cut. Lawrence has said in past interviews that she is a big fan of the original film.[40] Some sources indicate that the scene was filmed, but cut from the film after Lawrence vetoed it, a claim denied by both the Lawrence and Farrelly camps.[41] Bobby Farrelly explained that they tried to work around her schedule, but they were unable to do it.[42]

The film was released on November 14, 2014.[43]

Filming for the sequel began on September 24, 2013.[44][45][46][47] Principal photography began in Atlanta[48][49][50][51] and was completed on November 25.[52]

The theatrical trailer premiered on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 10, 2014.[57] In its first week, the trailer had 23.5 million views on YouTube, outpacing nine other trailers, whose combined views numbered 23 million.[58] The international trailer was released on June 25.[59]

On August 15, Universal released two advance posters that spoofed the theatrical release poster for Lucy, another Universal-distributed release that was then in theaters.[60] The two spoof posters, that reversed the "using more than ten percent of the brain" premise of Lucy to imply Harry and Lloyd only used one percent, were made public via Tweets from the Twitter accounts of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.[61] An official TV spot was released on September 25.[62]

Dumb and Dumber To was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 17, 2015.[63]

At the end of its box office run, Dumb and Dumber To accumulated a gross of $86.2 million in North America and $83.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $169.8 million, against a budget of $50 million.[4]

Early analysts predicted that the film could gross around $30–32 million in its opening weekend[64][65] and as high as $36–40 million in North America.[66][67]

The film earned $1.6 million from Thursday night previews[68][69] and $14.2 million on its opening day in Friday.[70][71] The film topped the box office in its opening weekend earning $38,053,000 from 3,154 theatres at an average of $12,065 per theatre.[7] The opening weekend gross is higher than the $16.1 million debut of the original film ($31 million adjusted for inflation), and is Carrey's biggest debut weekend since Bruce Almighty in 2003 ($67.9 million). The film played 47% under the age of 25 and 55% male.[72] Universal distribution chief Nikki Rocco commented about the opening performance: "This was tricky to market. A lot of these kids weren't born when the first [film] came out. But it has been such a serious time in movies, we had great marketing, mindless humor, and we broadened the audience".[73]

In its first weekend outside of North America, Dumb and Dumber To made over 13 million dollars. It opened number one in Brazil, Slovenia, Norway, Lebanon, South Africa, Iceland, Croatia, UAE, Uruguay. It opened number two in Poland, Austria, Colombia, Serbia, Spain, Finland, Sweden. It opened number three in Singapore, Germany, Nigeria, Netherlands, Mexico, Egypt.[74] The largest opening was in Brazil with $3,497,325.[75]

Outside North America, Dumb and Dumber To earned $3.2 million from four markets. The highest debut came from Germany ($1.4 million).[72]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 30% based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 4.50/10. The general consensus states, "Dumb and Dumber To does have its moments, but not enough of them—and the Farrelly brothers' brand of humor is nowhere near as refreshingly transgressive as it once seemed".[76] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 36 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[77] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.[78][79]

J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader gave the film a positive review: "Seeing the two fiftysomething stars in their idiot haircuts again is a little disconcerting, like watching your favorite old band on a desperate reunion tour, but this sequel to Dumb & Dumber maintains a respectable laugh quotient".[81] Colin Covert of the Star Tribune of Minnesota gave the film one out of four stars and wrote: "The result is simply stupid. This embarrassing revival plays as if the script were written in Comic Sans".[82] Andrew Barker of Variety gave the film a negative review, noting: "Sporadically funny and mostly tedious, this 18-years-too-late sequel nonetheless exhibits a puerile purity of purpose".[83] Joe Neumaier of New York Daily News gave the film zero out of five stars: "From junky production values to the parade of unfunny supporting characters to its lazy energy, Dumb and Dumber To falls on its face".[84] Jason Clark of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C−: "The ultimate sad realization is not that Dumb & Dumber To doesn't match the original's good-time quotient, but that it might not even be as good as - yikes - Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd".[85] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film one out of four stars: "If there was any doubt that most things in society have been dumbed down in the last couple of decades, Dumb and Dumber To could be exhibit A".[86]

David Ehrlich of Time Out New York gave the film three out of five stars: "Dumb and Dumber To may not be quite as funny as the first one, but it's the funniest thing the Farrellys have made since".[88] A.A. Dowd of The A.V. Club, gave the film D+ and wrote: "A sequel as desperate, in its own "official" way, as the knockoff-brand origin story that previously besmirched the franchise name".[89] Critic Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle scored the film one out of four stars, asking: "Is this worse for Jim Carrey or Jeff Daniels? That's the sort of question that comes to mind while not laughing at Dumb and Dumber To".[90] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that "the Farrellys are still not much interested in film as a visual medium, and when Lloyd and Harry aren't smacking each other or dropping their pants, you might as well be listening to a radio play".[91] The Boston Globe's critic Ty Burr gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four: "Everyone has piled into this dumber, sillier, more consistently funny reprise with an enthusiasm that's infectious, and not in a low-grade medical way".[92] Tom Long of The Detroit News gave the film a B+.[93]

Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "What felt fresh in Peter and Bobby Farrelly's original Dumb and Dumber, with the Carrey-Daniels dense duo channeling the Stooges and Jerry Lewis and something else entirely, feels strangely old-fashioned two decades later".[94] Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice wrote that "Dumb and Dumber To is mostly just a kick in the nuts, and not the good kind -- provided there is a good kind".[95] Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail gave the film two out of four stars and concluded: "Over all, the movie is just funny enough to make you wish it were much better than it is".[96] The Star-Ledger's Stephen Whitty gave the film one and a half out of four stars: "The majority of it isn't just dumb and dumber, or even crude and cruder. At nearly two hours, it's just dull - and duller".[97] David Edelstein of New York magazine wrote: "I reckon four out of every five jokes played to silence at the preview screening. If Dumb and Dumber To were a live comedian, he'd have said, 'Is this an audience or an oil painting?' He'd have left the stage in tears".[98] Wesley Morris of Grantland observed that "the directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly cram the movie with puns and those kinds of sight gags. Almost none of them work".[99] Critic Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four.[100]

For Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph it started promisingly:

Within moments, the joke is spent ... Here, as throughout the film, every punchline is followed by a quiet pause for audience laughter, the lengths of which might kindly be described as optimistic. ... There are scattered moments of inspiration ... But far more often, the comedy's just spiteful, sour or sloppily executed—or, in the case of a running joke about the hideous middle-agedness of Kathleen Turner's character, the mother of Harry's daughter, all three at once.[101]

Mark Kermode, writing in The Observer, "counted a mere three chuckles (one of which I'm fairly sure was unintentional), leaving this several smiles shy of even the widely panned 2003 prequel Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd".[102] The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw found "the movie does deliver some laughs, and the climactic scene in which the two low-IQ boys succeed in infiltrating the equivalent of a TED talk is enjoyably bizarre", but concluded: "It's a rental, rather than a visit to the cinema".[103]