When I sat with my accomplice to watch “There’s Something About Mary” the other night, we both had been having quite a stressful day – and it was just so cathartic to let it loose. There’s something to be said about the therapeutic release of laughter. It reminds me in a way of the style with which Hitchcock handles suspense – stretching their audiences’ comfort level. Their rambunctiousness is contagious – and seeing how far they’re willing to go with their outre situations is part of the fun. What does keep it from becoming something vulgar or tasteless is that there’s a sweetness underneath it – and a fondness for its characters. Things get crude, but they never get mean spirited, and the movie is an equal opportunity offender. It works because the writer/directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly are always having such a great time wanting us to laugh. It is one of the most uproarious moments in cinema. Cameron Diaz is so spunkily brilliant in this – playing it straight and recalling classic comediennes like Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert who were put in audacious situations – but never in one quite like this. I have seen “There’s Something About Mary” (1998) a few times now – and during that scene I’m screaming with laughter so loud that I honestly cannot tell you what the conversation is all about. In the next scene – they up the ante – and the two main characters have a conversation at a bar with her hair defiantly held up by the fluid. But the directors Peter and Bobby Farrely are not content with leaving it there. When he opens the door to greet her, she thinks the liquid peculiarly dangling from his ear is hair gel – and she gamely grabs it for she mentions she ran out of it. Mary is showing up to her date with Ted, and heeding advice from his friend, he decides to relax himself in the bathroom. We all enjoy bathroom humor at some point in our lives – and this is taking it to the max with performers who are up for anything. Everything up until this moment has been raunchy –– but you laugh. We see the set-up – something so outrageous - and it doesn’t stop.
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