There's Something About Mary
1998 · Directed by Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Original language: English
- romance
- comedy
The story
For Ted, prom night went about as bad as it’s possible for any night to go. Thirteen years later, he finally gets another chance with his old prom date, only to run up against other suitors including the sleazy detective he hired to find her.
What it’s like
Bright, sun-saturated Florida suburbs with flat daylight, pastel beach-house interiors, and a palette of hot pinks and sunny yellows, shot in conventional studio coverage that lets the gags land in the middle of the frame. Sound leans on a bouncy 1990s pop soundtrack, with a lone troubadour's guitar drifting through the story like a sly commentary. The rhythm is brisk and sitcom-clean, with setups and punchlines that snap quickly, and the mood stays cheerful and deliberately outrageous even when the humor gets crude. Sexual innuendo and gross-out gags run throughout, and there is some slapstick violence and bodily mishap; a character with an intellectual disability is played for laughs in ways that have aged poorly. The romance is sweet at heart, following a lovesick man who keeps circling an old crush while a parade of rivals pile up around him. It suits a loud, unfussy Friday night, a group watch where everyone is in on the jokes, or a nostalgic rewatch with low expectations. It is for people who want a lightly romantic, very silly comedy and don't mind raunchy, politically incorrect material.
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