|
Peter Farrelly debuted with the silly farce Dumb and Dumber (1994) and then joined his brother
Bobby to form a couple of directors and screenwriters specializing in farces
such as
Dumb and Dumber (1994), a road movie about two well-meaning idiots,
and
Kingpin (1996),
written by Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan.
There's Something About Mary (1998), co-written with
Ed Decter and John Strauss,
is a juvenile farce with vulgar overtones.
Ted is a depressed and alienated young man who tells his psychoanalyst how thirteen years earlier he was chosen by surprise by the sexy Mary, with whom he was in love, as her date to the "prom", but then he ruined the evening with a series of blunders (after accidentally hitting Mary's idiotic brother, who did not tolerate being touched in the ears, he caught his penis in the zipper and had to be hospitalized).
A friend convinces him to hire a private detective, Pat, to track down Mary.
Pat finds her in Florida, still single and more attractive than ever.
She works as a volunteer in a center for the handicapped and keeps company with her bizarre neighbor who has a passion for bugging other people's cell phones.
The private eye, in turn, places a microphone on Mary so that he can listen to all her conversations.
And so Pat learns who Mary's ideal man would be. Pat tells Ted a fake story: Mary is ugly and unbearable. But then Pat resigns and moves to Florida, where he woos Mary by introducing himself as the man of her dreams.
Meanwhile, Ted is getting more and more depressed, until he learns by chance that Mary is still the same beautiful girl she used to be, and of course Ted then goes after Pat.
Pat, meanwhile, almost sets Mary's neighbor's dog on fire in an attempt to ingratiate himself with her, and continues to invent one story after another: architect, house in Nepal, dedicated to the cause of the mentally retarded... everything that Mary likes.
Ted is driving to Florida but is arrested in a police raid, mistaken first for a homosexual prostitute and then for a serial killer.
Mary has a close friend, Tucker, an invalid who walks on crutches, who warns her about Pat after checking that his credentials are all fake. But Pat hears everything and can take appropriate countermeasures. Ted, meanwhile, released, resumes his journey, accompanied this time by his friend.
The latter discovered that Pat has fallen in love with Mary. In the meantime, Pat made it up to Mary and she fell into his arms. Ted and his friend arrive.
Ted comes forward but doesn't have the courage to tell Mary the whole truth and just courts her timidly.
Pat learns of Ted's presence through the hidden microphone. Tucker, meanwhile, discovers that Pat is a dangerous murderer and convinces Mary to stop seeing him.
But Pat follows him and unmasks him in turn: Tucker is just a guy who delivers pizzas and who, having fallen in love with Mary, has decided to impersonate an invalid aristocrat.
Meanwhile, Ted is convinced by his friend to masturbate before the "date" with Mary so that he won't be too aggressive at the date. The sperm hangs from his ear and Mary, unaware, uses it to fix her hair. At dinner Mary tells him about her life surrounded by "stalkers", starting with the Woogie for which she had to change her last name. Ted realizes that he is simply one of them.
Pat and Tucker spy on them and cause some catastrophe for Ted, but they can't stop the two from continuing to see each other.
Eventually, someone writes an anonymous letter to Mary revealing that Pat is a detective that Ted hired to spy on her. Mary, of course, is shocked to learn that Ted lied to her like everyone else and throws him out.
Ted thinks it was Pat who exposed him, but Pat swears his innocence.
And it wasn't Tucker, who moreover confirms that he has caused all of Mary's previous relationships to fail with his bogus revelations.
It was Ted's friend, who turns out to be the psychotic Woogie.
Tucker and Pat save Mary from Woogie's attack, but Tucker reveals that he is not the invalid whom Mary thought was her best friend.
All four of them find themselves in front of Mary.
Ted also calls Brett, Mary's old boyfriend discredited by Tucker's lie, and "delivers" him to her.
Ted swears to Mary that he is cured, that he no longer needs her, and leaves. But as soon as he is outside he bursts into tears. But Mary follows him.
Another comedy,
Me, Myself & Irene (2000), starred comedian Jim Carrey and was co-written with Mike Cerrone.
Osmosis Jones (2001),
written by Marc Hyman, combines live-action sequences directed by the Farrelly brothers and animated sequences directed by Piet Kroon and Tom Sito.
the fairy tale Shallow Hal (2001)
Stuck on You (2003)
Fever Pitch (2005) was a remake of David Evans' 1997 film written by Nick Hornby.
The Heartbreak Kid (2007) was a remake of the 1972 film directed by
Elaine May and written by Neil Simon.
Hall Pass (2011), co-written with Pete Jones,
The Three Stooges (2012), co-written with Cerrone, even resurrects
the comedic trio of the 1940s but transfers them into the 21st century.
Dumb and Dumber To (2014) is the sequel
to Dumb and Dumber.
Green Book (2018), directed by Peter alone, is
a diligent biopic that mostly focuses on the buddy who didn't become famous
(the white man) rather than on the genius (the black man).
The film is overlong with rarely a spark of imagination.
We follow the duo in their tour of the racist South but nothing that happens
really stirs our emotions.
In the 1960s Tony is a bouncer for a New York night club.
The club is closing for renovation and he needs a job for two months.
He is a good husband and good father of two children, surrounded by a large
Italian family.
He is popular in his neighborhood and wins a eating context at a local joint.
After turning down the invitation from friends in the mob, he is summoned at
the office of a "Doctor" who turns out to be a black pianist. His office
is decorated with African motives and the pianist sits on a sort of throne.
He speaks in a snobbish highly educated tone.
He wants Tony to be his chaffeur and butler during a two-month tour.
Tony would like the job but doesn't want to play butler, so he declines
even though he has to pawn his watch to buy food for the family.
The "doctor" calls him and asks to speak with his wife. He offers more money
and the wife is sold, even though the tour ends on Christmas eve.
The day when they start the trip Tony is given a "green book" that contains
the list of hotels, restaurants and gas stations that serve blacks: the
southern states are still segregating blacks out of most white establishments.
Two musicians (one of them Russian) travel in another car.
The trip begins with the almost illiterate Tony trying in vain to strike
a conversation with the educated intellectual black musician.
Tony can't believe that the "doc" doesn't know any of the black pop stars
of the time. The "doc" is a classical pianist, not a pop pianist.
They sleep in a luxury hotel and dine in a high-class restaurant.
The doc is ashamed to hear that Tony played dice with the staff
while he was playing Chopin in front of an ecstatic (and white) audience.
Doc is also implacable in making Tony behave: when Tony steals a jade rock from
a store, Doc forces him to return it. Tony, on the other hand, strictly enforces
respect for his boss. When a (white) technician sets up a lousy piano on stage,
Tony does not hesitate to beat him up to get a proper grand piano.
Tony writes semi-illiterate letters to his wife.
Doc admits to Tony that he lives a rather lonely life, divorced and distanced
from his brother.
Don, who has been trying in vain to teach Tony good manners, begins to like
Tony's low-class manners. Tony even teaches him how to eat fried chicken
with his hands. One night Doc has no choice but to sleep in the only hotel
for blacks while Tony can sleep in a better hotel across the street.
Doc, uncomfortable amid the poor blacks of the neighborhood, makes the mistake
of going for a walk and is harassed by white men. Tony has to rescue him
pretending to have a gun. He tells Doc that he bluffed and has no gun.
Then the car breaks down and Doc has a chance to observe the grim lives of
black sharecroppers, who in return stare at the rare black traveling in
the back of a car. The Doc is welcomed as the special guest in a sort
of plantation mansion but the host refuses to let him use the bathroom that
is reserved for white people. Doc asks Tony to drive him back to the hotel
rather than use the outdoors toilet for blacks. Doc starts helping Tony with
the letters that he write to his wife. His letters become more and more
poetic and romantic. In a store Doc is not allowed to try a jacket.
Episodes of racism rapidly get worse as they enter more and more racist areas,
even though Doc performs in front of enthusiastic crowds.
One day Tony has to rescue Doc from a bigger trouble: he is caught by the cops
indulging in homosexual sex with one of the duo. Tony bribes the cops to
let them free. Doc is not grateful but furious. On the other hand, Doc is afraid
when Tony is offered a job by the mafia boys who are accidentally staying at
the same hotel. It turns out that Doc understands Italian. Tony, however,
tells him not to worry. Doc now dictates the letters that Tony "writes" to
his wife. After another performance and standing ovation, they are stopped
by curious cops in a rural area while it's raining. The cops can't believe
that a white man works for a black man. One of them insults Tony's Italian
heritage and Tony strikes him. The cops throws them in jail. Doc asks to call
his lawyer. Minutes later, the governor of the state calls the sheriff to
immediately release him. Doc lectures Tony on dignity, but also cries that
he is neither black nor white.
They are at the end of the tour, the Christmas show. Doc is received as
a star, as usual, but forbideen to dine with the white guests in the
restaurant for whites only. This time Doc leaves without playing.
Tony and Doc stop a night club for blacks. Everybody stares at Doc, who is
still wearing his tuxedo. Tony tells the bartender that
Doc is a virtuoso pianist and the bartender invites him to play on stage.
Doc plays on a bad piano and the audience is ecstatic. He then accepts
to play with the black musicians. He finally mingled with blacks.
Outside Tony's familiarity with criminals helps: he fires his gun to
scare away two thugs who are ready to assault them. Doc realizes that
Tony was not bluffing that night, he really had a gun.
Doc decides to drive back to New York, drive all night so that Tony can spend
Christmas Eve with his family. Cops stop them in the middle of a snowstorm,
but this time the cops want to help fix one of the tires. Tony can't drive
anymore, he's too tired. Doc takes over and starts driving the sleeping Tony.
They arrive just in time for Tony to join the big dinner with his family.
Tony invites Doc to join them but Doc prefers to spend the evening alone in
his studio. Later, however, Doc shows up at Tony's door and Tony introduces him
to all the Italian relatives, who are initially surprised to see a black man
but then embrace him. Tony's wife thanks Doc for helping Tony write the letters:
she guessed that.
|
