Dumb and Dumberer:
When Harry Met Lloyd
Harry and Lloyd are crouched in at the start of line of people that parodies the image March of Progress representing the evolution of man
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTroy Miller
Screenplay byTroy Miller
Robert Brener
Story byRobert Brener
Based onCharacters
by Peter Farrelly
Bobby Farrelly
Bennett Yellin
Produced byOren Koules
Charles B. Wessler
Brad Krevoy
Steve Stabler
Troy Miller
Starring
CinematographyAnthony B. Richmond
Edited byLawrence Jordan
Music byEban Schletter
Production
companies
Burg/Koules Productions
Dakota Pictures
Avery Pix
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Release date
  • June 13, 2003 (2003-06-13)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$19 million[1]
Box office$39.3 million[1]

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd is a 2003 American buddy comedy film directed by Troy Miller from a screenplay by Miller and Robert Brener. It is the second installment in the Dumb and Dumber franchise and a prequel to the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber. Depicting the original film's characters during their high school years, it stars Derek Richardson and Eric Christian Olsen in the title roles. The film was a moderate box office success, but was panned by critics, who compared it unfavorably with the original.

Plot

In 1986, Harry Dunne finally gets his chance to go to regular school. At the same time, Lloyd Christmas has been adopted and exchanged several times until he is finally accepted by the school janitor, Ray. Harry bumps into Lloyd on the way to school, in search of a treasure his mother asked him to find, and as if it were destiny, the two instantly became the best of friends. Lloyd introduces Harry to his "friend", Turk, the school bully whose main function in life appears to be making Lloyd's life miserable. After putting Lloyd in a trash can, he hoists the two friends up a flagpole.

Meanwhile, the corrupt Principal Collins is searching for a way to get a large amount of money to get a condominium in Waikiki, Hawaii for him and his girlfriend, Ms. Heller, the school's cafeteria lady. Seeing Harry and Lloyd getting hoisted on a flagpole, Principal Collins decides to establish a fake "special needs" class to swindle $100,000 from a former Special Needs student named Richard Moffit. Obviously, Harry and Lloyd are more than thrilled to help, unaware of the real reason, and thus find themselves signing up people who are "special" enough for the class. These include a reluctant Turk; a teen named Toby who broke his leg and arm in a skateboarding accident—and whom Lloyd believes is a "little crippled boy"; Toby's gorgeous girlfriend, Terri; geeky Lewis, whom Harry and Lloyd believe is a centaur after seeing him half-dressed in his horse mascot uniform; Cindy, also known as "Ching-Chong", a Chinese exchange student who later becomes Turk's girlfriend; and Carl, a badly injured football player obsessed with his sport. Ms. Heller becomes the teacher of the fake class and holds it in Ray's tool shed.

Jessica Matthews, a headstrong student and reporter for the school paper, is suspicious of Principal Collins' sudden contribution. Jessica invites Harry over to her house for dinner and asks Harry for information. Harry, who thinks that she is flirting with him, turns to Lloyd for courtship tips. A repulsive disaster involving Jessica's bathroom and a melted chocolate bar that looks like feces makes her father, Walter, freak out, inadvertently directing her attention to Lloyd. Soon, Harry and Lloyd get into a fight over Jessica, without her knowing it, which causes the duo to angrily break off their friendship. Inevitably, the two make amends when Harry and Lloyd realize that they were nothing without each other. They find Principal Collins' chest in his office which contains evidence of every scam he and Ms. Heller ever pulled, and that evidence could put them away for 20 years.

The next day, Principal Collins finds his evidence chest missing, and Ms. Heller falsely accuses Jessica of taking it. As a result, Principal Collins prank calls her parents and keeps her at his house overnight in an attempt to interrogate her. Meanwhile, the Special Needs class builds a float of George Washington for the Thanksgiving Parade. However, after Lloyd and Harry discover the evidence in the chest, they change the float to look like Principal Collins instead. After the class discovers his evidence, they agree to use him as the float instead. They also plan on having it pulled by the class's special bus. Before bringing out the float, they call the police. During the parade, the superintendent of the school district has a police detective pose as Richard Moffit, so Principal Collins would take the grant. Eventually, the Special Needs class brings out their float and proves Principal Collins and Ms. Heller as thieves by putting their recordings over loudspeakers, therefore exposing their plot. Before Principal Collins and Ms. Heller escape with the money, they are arrested by the police. Jessica is grateful for Harry and Lloyd and regards them as heroes, but just like in the original film, the duo's advances to Jessica are in vain, as it turns out that Jessica had a boyfriend. He commends Harry and Lloyd for exposing Collins' and Heller's plot and rides off with Jessica.

Harry and Lloyd vow never to fight and risk their friendship over a woman, but as they head home, they are approached by Fraida Felcher and her twin sister, Rita in a red Ferrari 308 GTS,[2] who offer to take them to visit a new girls' college. After Harry and Lloyd get into another debate over which girl they want, Lloyd declines the offer to settle the debate, and Fraida and Rita furiously drive off, splattering Harry with mud in the process. Walter accidentally hits Harry with his Mercedes,[3] resulting in Harry getting the windshield and hood covered with mud. Jessica's father recognizes Harry and as he frantically thinks his car is covered in feces, Harry and Lloyd casually walk away.

Cast

Production

Much of the film was filmed in Atlanta. Many of the school scenes were filmed at Walton High School in Marietta and at the Atlanta International School in Fulton County. The Farrelly brothers, who co-wrote and directed the original Dumb and Dumber, had no involvement in this film whatsoever, nor did Jim Carrey or Jeff Daniels, who played Lloyd and Harry in the original film. Although Peter Farrelly has never seen the prequel, he went on record as saying that he holds no ill will against the film and wished the filmmakers well on it.[4]

Following the success of South Park, co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were originally slated to write the script for the film, but due to scheduling conflicts, by 2000 they opted out of the project and returned their salary to New Line Cinema.[5] Adam Brody wanted to play the role of Lloyd Christmas.[6]

Release

Home media

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd was released on DVD and VHS on November 11, 2003.[7]

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $10.8 million in 2,609 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking in sixth place beind Finding Nemo, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bruce Almighty, Rugrats Go Wild and Hollywood Homicide.[8] By the end of its run, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd grossed $26.3 million domestically and $13 million internationally for a worldwide total of $39.3 million, against a $19 million budget.[1]

Critical response

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd was panned by critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 10% rating based on reviews from 119 critics, with an average score of 2.8/10. The site's critical consensus states: "This lame prequel induces more groans than laughs. Rent the original instead".[9] Metacritic gives the film a score of 19 out of 100, based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[10]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result
Golden Raspberry Awards[11] February 28, 2004 Worst Remake or Sequel Nominated
Worst Screenplay Robert Brener and Troy Miller Nominated
Worst Screen Couple Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards[12] 2004 Worst Picture Nominated
Most Painfully Unfunny Not Canon Comedy Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd at Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ 1978 Ferrari 308 GTS in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Movie, 2003
  3. ↑ 1986 Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse [W126] in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Movie, 2003
  4. ↑ Ryan, Mike (April 12, 2012). "Peter Farrelly, 'The Three Stooges' Director, On What We'll See in 'Dumb & Dumber 2'". Moviefone.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  5. ↑ Evans, Bradford (8 March 2012). "The Lost Projects of Trey Parker and Matt Stone". Vulture. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  6. ↑ Malkin, Marc (2023-08-02). "Adam Brody on 'F—ing Boring' Method Acting and His Failed 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Audition: 'I Wanted That One'". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-23.
  7. ↑ Vancheri, Barbara (October 31, 2003). "November: Almighty month for movies". Post-Gazette Staff Writer. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 92. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  8. ↑ "Audiences Find 'Nemo'". CBS News. June 16, 2003. Archived from the original on 2022-02-07. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  9. ↑ "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 13, 2011. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  11. ↑ "GIGLI's a Really Big Hit...with RAZZIE Voters!". Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Past Winners Database". The Envelope at LA Times. Archived from the original on 15 August 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
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