Dumb and Dumber is an excellent demonstration of the artistic truth that it takes a certain genius to create compellingly stupid characters.
The Farrellys' great achievement all those years ago was in abandoning any notion of restraint: their innocents abroad, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, pictured, are not stupid in any way that humans living in the real world would recognise. They're not caveman dumb or talkback radio listener dumb or even astrology hotline caller dumb: Harry and Lloyd are wildly, cosmically, and joyously moronic, a pair of imbeciles whose complete absence of neural activity is matched only by their touchingly misplaced confidence in their ability to navigate a world built by people with functioning brains.
Embarking on a cross-country road trip to return a briefcase to its rightful owner – a briefcase left behind deliberately – the dynamic duo are gloriously sure of themselves, never ceasing to believe that they can complete the task, win the day, and get the girl.
Harry and Lloyd are far too stupid to realise how stupid they are, to realise that they are not cruising through life with dash and elan. It might be depressing were it not for the fact that these idiots aren't losers: they're winners. They bumble and stumble from one disaster to the next, but it's always others who suffer the consequences of their cerebral deficit: Harry and Lloyd will always come out on top, and that's why they're forever smiling.
And at a base, visceral level that the Farrellys have always understood, it's just very funny watching incredibly dumb people doing incredibly dumb things. It's also very funny watching Jim Carrey cut loose; one harbours the hope that the sequel reminds us not only of Daniels' wild-haired past, but that there have been vanishingly few people on this planet who have ever been as funny as Carrey when he drops all pretension and all actorly artifice, and simply lets rip in the unapologetic pursuit of an audience full of people laughing their guts up.
Just as Carrey was once the funniest guy on earth, there was a time, young 'uns, when John Travolta was the species' most perfect example of utter cool. Get Shorty (Channel Nine, 10.30pm) is the peak of that era, as stylish a flick as ever there was, with Travolta magnetically smooth as a mob enforcer looking to crack Hollywood.
Killer performances all round, with special mention for Gene Hackman as a weaselly producer with delusions of tough guy grandeur.
