Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

A purely cash-in prequel to 1994's guilty-pleasure gross-out comedy starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as two low-IQ nincompoops, Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd couldn't be dumber if Harry and Lloyd had written the script themselves. An obtuse, half-assed, pointless and nearly plotless journey back to the high school days of the same two dolts (Derek Richardson and Eric Christian Olsen inconsistently aping Daniels and Carrey), the flick has no hint of the lowbrow wit of the first movie (the debut of the writing-directing Farrelly Brothers, who have nothing to do with this stinker). Its miniscule laughs are lost completely in a nonsensical story driven by completely feeble expository dialogue such as the school's crooked principal (Eugene Levy) declaring "I think I've finally figured out how to bilk this school out of enough money to buy that condo in Waikiki." In fact, Dumb & Dumberer is so bad that even Levy--who ran away with every scene in the otherwise weak comedy Bringing Down the House--isn't funny. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include three viewing options: “Extended Movie Mode” (slow-mo), “Jiffy Mode” (speeded-up) and “Pillow Mode” (sideways), an “All Access Pass” with three audio commentaries (one by director Troy Miller, and costars Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson; another by “film critics” Samuel Shavers (Robert Seay) and Thompson Jennings (Will Moran); and the last by “The Ciccone Family”--but the two mock-commentaries only run a few minutes each), the 25-minute featurette “Casting the Perfect Dummies,” the 17-minute “Dumb and Dangerous” making-of featurette, nine deleted and alternate scenes (between one to six minutes each) with commentary by Miller and editor Larry Jordan, eight minutes of “Dumberer” behind-the-scenes outtakes, various Easter Eggs (including a literal Easter Egg gallery), trailers and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: the extras are far, far more clever than the film itself.] (R. Blackwelder)