Fun Summer Movies: THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998)

Release Date: 15 July 1998. Stars Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans, Chris Elliott, Keith David, Markie Post, Sarah Silverman, Lin Shaye.

The surprise comedy smash during the summer of 1998 was There's Something About Mary, written and directed by The Farrelly Brothers, who had made Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey into a smash four years ago. The duo strike back with an even better comedy which shows Cameron Diaz as a true comedienne. She plays Mary Jenson, the gorgeous high schooler who geek challenged Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller) chats up one day and gets an invite to prom from her. Well things don't go as planned and Ted has the unfortunate situation of getting his manhood caught in his zipper which produces one of the best gags and most outrageous scenes you will ever see in a comedy.

The infamous scene with Ted getting his you know what caught in his zipper

Flash forward 13 years and Ted still pines for Mary and hires a private detective named Pat Healy (a surprisingly good comedic performance by Matt Dillon) to track her down so he can finally start a relationship with her. Healy finds Mary living down in Miami but falls in love himself and reports back to Ted that Mary now is a grosteque woman with multiple kids living in the slums. And then Healy jolts down to Miami to start romancing Mary.

Matt Dillon as the piece of work detective Pat Healy

Well Ted finds out that Healy lied about Mary and races down to Miami to find his true love. But he not only has to deal with Healy but also deal a guy named Tucker (played by Lee Evans) who also loves Mary too.

Mary, after using some of Ted's special hair gel...

Mistaken identity and all kinds of confusion add to the hilarity to one of the funniest movies ever made. There are some gross out gags which are the Farrelly trademarks but there are also tons of laughs from everybody in the cast. Cameron Diaz gets to shine in her first lead role and you can see why everyone falls in love with her. Stiller is quite good in one of his first big roles. And Dillion shines in a rare comedy role. Also great support from Chris Elliott, Keith David, Lin Shaye, Markie Post and Sarah Silverman. You will have to see Mary several times to catch all the jokes that the Farrelly Brothers throws at you. And you will love every minute of it.

The Mary everyone is in love with..

NOTES:

The film was one of the biggest hits during the summer of 1998, racking up a huge $176 million in North America alone. Making it one of the biggest comedy films ever.

The opening scenes of the film are set in Cumberland, Rhode Island. This is an actual town in Rhode Island where the Farrelly Brothers grew up.


Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.


After this film, Ben Stiller went on to star in several successful comedies such as Meet The Parents, Zoolander, Along Came Polly, Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball, Night at the Museum and Tropic Thunder.