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.



It's official..CARY GRANT is the favorite classic movie actor of ALL GOOD THINGS

No need to be shy Cary, you just won the classic movie actor tournament...

It's over. Cary Grant has beaten William Holden (sorry Patti) 32-11 to win the favorite classic movie actor tournament on ALL GOOD THINGS. It really was never in doubt when this tourney started, who would win this. Cary steamrolled in almost every match he had with the exception of Jimmy Stewart (16-10 Cary's favor was his closest match). Everybody else he faced, he just destroyed. So congratulations to Cary, and good going to for second place finisher William Holden. This has really made my year here on All Good Things, seeing my favorite actor Cary win this, to go along with my number 2 favorite actress Irene Dunne winnning the women's tourney. And they are my favorite on screen couple so it worked out wonderfully. Expect all kind of post celebration things this week in honor of Cary's win. Thanks to all those that voted and helped make this tourney another success. And good news, me and Dawn are doing a tourney to find out the favorite classic film musical on her blog Singin and Dancing Thru Time in September. The fun will continue over there.

Good news and bad news...

I guess everyone knows about my 60's event on my blog. Well I have some good news and bad news. The bad news is that since it is already July 17th, there is no way I will finish before the end of the month. So the good news is that I will now run it through the end of the summer. Just to make sure I give the era the proper amount of time to do it right. So look forward to All Things 60's to continue into September. Thanks to everyone for being so patient.

The Pigeon Sisters seem ok with the idea of extending my 60's tribute through September...

THE MONTIES: 1935

Back for the next year in my Monties awards and it's 1935. Here are my films and performers I chose as best in show for that year.

FILM

ALICE ADAMS
MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
TOP HAT
CAPTAIN BLOOD
BECKY SHARP
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN - WINNER
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
ANNA KARENINA

DIRECTOR

GEORGE STEVENS - ALICE ADAMS
JAMES WHALE - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (WINNER)
MARK SANDRICH - TOP HAT
CLARENCE BROWN - ANNA KARENINA
MICHAEL CURTIZ - CAPTAIN BLOOD

ACTOR

ERROL FLYNN - CAPTAIN BLOOD
FREDRIC MARCH - ANNA KARENINA
CLARK GABLE - MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY
CHARLES LAUGHTON - MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (WINNER)

ACTRESS

BETTE DAVIS - DANGEROUS
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND - CAPTAIN BLOOD
KATHERINE HEPBURN - ALICE ADAMS
ELSA LANCHESTER - BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
MIRIAM HOPKINS - BECKY SHARP (WINNER)

As you can see I awarded Bride of Frankenstein as top movie of 1935 and to it's director James Whale for crafting such a great film and solid sequel. I thought Charles Laughton was excellent as Captain Bligh and usually when two actors both receive a nomination in the same film it kind of cancels each other out. But Laughton was too good. And finally Miriam Hopkins was perfect as Becky Sharp. While her character may have been kind of unlikable, you still rooted for her. And Hopkins was fantastic in the role.

Up next : 1936...

Happy Birthday to 2 amazing actresses: Barbara Stanwyck and Ginger Rogers

Happy Birthday to Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990) and Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), two of the best actresses ever!

The Greatest TV Comedies - Three's Copmany (1977 - 1984)

One of my favorite comedies of all time, Three's Company definitely is on the list of greatest TV comedies ever. I can't remember exactly when I started watching it but I will say maybe around 11 as the show was already well into it's long run. I caught up with the earlier seasons through re-runs. The series centered on two women, Janet Wood (played by Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers) who share an apartment in Santa Monica. Well during a party one night, the next morning they find a passed out guy in the bathroom. His name is Jack Tripper (John Ritter) and he happens to be an aspiring chef. Once the girls taste his cooking, they invite him to move in with them in a strictly platonic relationship. Which is fine with them but their landlord Mr. Roper (the wily Norman Fell) thinks a lot of hanky panky and sex will be going on. The girls manage to convince him that Jack is gay and the rest is history. The trio made an great team with Ritter doing all kinds of slapstick and pratfalls. Somers had that distinctive laugh and played the airhead blonde to perfection and DeWitt usually played it straight but she still got plenty of laughs. I loved how she always pronounced Jack's name when she was mad at him, putting the emphasis on the ac of his name. Fell was awesome as Stanley Roper and was Audra Lindley who played his wife Helen. Jack had a buddy named Larry Dallas (Richard Kline) who evoked memories of Bill Daily (from the Bob Newhart Show) as Larry was constantly coming by and getting Jack into awkward dates. The initial cast would last three seasons before Somers was let go due to salary demands and she was replaced by the fetching Jenilee Harrison who played Chrissy's cousin Cindy. She never quite jelled with the others and was soon let go to make room for Priscilla Barnes who played Terri Alden (a nurse). Barnes was perfect as Terri, and made everyone forget about Suzanne Somers, and clicked beautifully with Ritter and DeWitt. Fell and Lindley would leave for their own spin off show which paved the way for Don Knotts to come in as the new landlord Ralph Furley. Knotts nailed it as the swinging wannabe ladies man who proved he could play more than Barney Fife. Also memorable was the hot to trot Lana Shields (the sexy Ann Wedgeworth) who bedeviled all the guys on the show. Three's Company had it's best moments in the 70's and early 80's before the times changed. Their sexual antics were toned down as the characters starting behaving more like adults and prepared to settle down. Still it was a very funny show and I tuned in every week to get in some guaranteed laughs. Three's Company ran for 174 episodes on ABC and there was a spinoff with Ritter's character called Three's A Crowd, but that only lasted one season. You can still enjoy Three's Company today thanks to reruns on TV Land and DVD.

Memorable quotes:


Janet Wood Dawson: Chrissy, your dad is a minister, what does he usually say to couples in trouble?
Chrissy: He tells them to keep the baby.
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Chrissy: Jack, that smells good.
Jack Tripper: Chrissy, I haven't even started cooking yet.
Chrissy: Well, you better hurry up and start cooking so you can catch up with the smell.
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Ralph Furley: This is a respectable building. NO ROMAN ORGIES!


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Jack Tripper: It's time to toast the bride and groom. To Gloria and Larry, happy days!
Janet Wood Dawson: Good times!
Chrissy: Little House on the Prairie!

Be My Guest - Irene: Question #1 - What are some of your favorite feel good movies?

I couldn't get in contact with my original guest for this month so my great friend Irene of And Then They Start To Sparkle graciously stepped in to fill this month's spot. You may recall Irene just wrapped up being my guest in June, so I had to think of some more questions to ask her. And here is the first one: What are some of your favorite feel good movies? Below are her answers and my comments:

Irene: I think today I choose: THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT (1956) - because I love how funny Jayne Mansfield is, Tom Ewell having a crush and her - and the music, the wardrobe and the whole cast..


Monty: Definitely a feel good movie. I've seen it only once but I remember it being a whole lot of fun





Irene: HELP (1965) - because the Beatles are so absurdly silly.. and I love the music..


Monty: Good choice as well.





Irene: BLUE HAWAII (1961) - just a fun film.. I dream of visiting Hawaii - and Elvis always was the guy I wanted to be my big brother.. He is very funny.. - and yes.. I like the music - how did you guess that??

Monty: Elvis did so many movies I kind of lost track, but I do remember Blue Hawaii.










(- ask me again in a week and it might be something completely different.. - but it seems like I need some music for my feel good films..)

The MONTIES: My version of the Oscars

Just something I thought of recently, well after seeing my friend John over at Mythical Monkey, where his wife Katie has listed her choices to win best of during any given year. So this is my version and what I thought should have won awards as best of for that particular year. And please just take my choices with a grain of salt and nothing more. I will start with the year 1934 because the earlier years I haven't seen enough of films released during that period.


1934:
(PICTURE )

CLEOPATRA

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT

THE THIN MAN (winner)

THE GAY DIVORCEE

KANSAS CITY PRINCESS

TWENTIETH CENTURY
----------------------------------

(ACTOR)

CLARK GABLE (It Happened One Night)

WILLIAM POWELL (The Thin Man) - (winner)

FRED ASTAIRE (The Gay Divorcee)

JOHN BARRYMORE (Twentieth Century)

W.C. FIELDS (It's A Gift)
------------------------------------------

(ACTRESS)

CLAUDETTE COLBERT (It Happened One Night)

MYRNA LOY (The Thin Man) - winner

GINGER ROGERS (The Gay Divorcee)

JOAN BLONDELL (Kansas City Princess)

GLENDA FARRELL (Kansas City Princess)
-------------------------------------------------

(DIRECTOR)

FRANK CAPRA (It Happened One Night)

W.S. VAN DYKE (The Thin Man) - winner

HOWARD HAWKS (Twentieth Century)


Supporting actor and actress didn't become a category until 1936, so that's why they are not part of my choices for the year 1934.  As you can tell it was a Thin Man sweep as the film won Monties for Film, Director, Actor and Actress. Edging out another great film, It Happened One Night. Well this is my first attempt at my awards called the Monties. Expect a new post on consecutive years every few day.

It's No. 1 CARY GRANT vs. No.2 WILLIAM HOLDEN for all the marbles...

In what's sure to be a great championship match...Cary Grant will face William Holden. Well I'm hoping it to be a great match but so far Cary has just rolled through this tournament. He crushed Paul Newman 45-9 and that match was over during the first day. Here are the results of Cary's romp so far: Round 1 he beat Robert Taylor 51-6; Round 2 he beat Joel McCrea 37-9; Round 3 he beat Gary Cooper 30-10; Round 4 he beat Jimmy Stewart 16-10, which was his closest match. William Holden also proved to be very dominant in the 50's bracket. Round 1 he beat Danny Kaye 41-5; Round 2 he beat Montgomery Clift 26-12; Round 3 he beat Kirk Douglas 29-6; and in Round 4 he beat Robert Mitchum 18-12, his closest match. And then the nail biter he just had with William Powell, outlasting him 27-26. So now Grant and Holden will battle for it all starting Thursday morning. The match will run through Sunday 7 pm EST. Good luck to both men.

CLASSIC MOVIE ACTOR CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

1 CARY GRANT

VS

2 WILLIAM HOLDEN



Good Morning from Rita Hayworth

Rita says Good morning to everyone on this fabulous new day...