There's Something About Mary (1998) User Reviews (698)

Ya gotta have a sense of humor!

[lambiepie-2 · 8/10 · 22 April 2003]

When this film came out with all of the PR and things, I hated it. I hated it without even seeing it. Then, as with many movies, I caught this on Digital Cable TV, by accident. I had NO intention of seeing it, but once I did, I cannot tell you how much I loved it.

This is the Farrley Brothers at their funniest. The idea is simple, a guy (Ben Stiller) who had a crush on a woman (Carmen Diaz) he knew since high school and continued to yearn for her privately, finally getting an opportunity to try to reconnect what never got going. This is something almost everyone can identify with.

What makes this work...is its a dead-on hard hitting comedy. The Farrley Brothers spared no one: male or female, handicapped or able bodied, black or white, rich or poor, job or not, straight or gay, animal or vegetable, blonde or brunette, educated or not. It is NOT a cinematic masterpiece so don't look for one, it is not a punch line comedy or slapstick comedy, it is sophomore humor done very well because you're going to be laughing at what you think you shouldn't no matter how much you want to say you would never laugh at something like that.

Plus the Farrley Brothers added in "some things" that...well... may have just happened to you at some point in your adolecence, and put a comedic/gross quality to it that shocks you into laughing at it. All through the film you might laugh because you're thinking, "Better them than me".....even if it was you!

Not for eveyone's taste, even those who think they know comedy, but this is that kinda comedy that is hard to do once you've reached maturity and forgotten what it was like to laugh at simple things. This is as simple as it gets. Don't put too much into it, it is what it is, and to me, it was really funny! Good Show!

A real trend-setter.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 8/10 · 10 July 2011]

Whenver we refer to modern comedies I think we have to go all the way back to "There's Something About Mary" to see where this all started. It set the new standards for comedy and also became a much imitated movie. Movies however very rarely reached the level of this movie ever again, including all of the Farrelly brothers own later work.

It's the sort of raunchy comedy, that makes some completely inappropriate jokes and makes for instance fun of both psychically and mentally handicapped people, among many other things. This is the foremost reason why some people can't really stand this movie but luckily most others are able to see the talent and effort that were put into making this movie and why the movie works out so well.

As strange as it sounds, it's actually a real subtle done comedy. It's not predictable in any way and the build up and execution of it is spot on. It even makes all of the moments, that usually seem like something totally lame and forced, work out as something hilarious.

It also has a great, yet very simple premise, of a bunch of guys all falling for the same girl. It's the sort of story that provides the movie with plenty of silly comical moments, in which the characters lie and constantly are backstabbing each other, all to get the girl in the end.

Cameron Diaz forms the perfect centerpiece for this movie and the movie is filled with plenty of comical characters, all played by some capable genre actors. This movie is still from the time when it was cool to like Ben Stiller and yes, he also really is perfect in his role. But basically everyone is perfectly cast in this, which is obviously also a reason why the movie and all of its comedy works out so well.

Comedies like this only seem to come once every 10 years, or so.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

One of the funniest movies of the 90's.

[jaysilentbob37 · 7/10 · 21 December 2005]

I desperately wish that the Farelly brothers would go back to doing gross-out comedies like they did with Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin, Me, Myself, and Irene, and this. This is by far the best of all their movies. There are three kinds of comedy. Comedies that make you smile (Sixteen Candles), comedies that make you laugh (Airplane), and comedies that cause you to nearly asphyxiate yourself from laughing so hard. This is one of those rare third category movies. With the friends I watched it with, the laughs sounded like nuclear bombs going off in my room. It's that funny.

Thirteen years ago, Ted (Ben Stiller) landed a prom date with the most popular and beautiful girl in school, Mary (Cameron Diaz). Unfortunately, the date wasn't meant to be, for Ted has his manhood damaged right in front of Mary, and ends up in the hospital instead of the prom.

Thirteen years later, Ted decides to track Mary down, and have a second chance with his dream girl. He hires sleazy private eye, Pat (Matt Dillon)to find her for him. Pat finds her, and she's grown up beautiful. Pat decides he wants to date her. He stalks her, finds out everything she wants in a man, and poses as just that. Meanwhile, Ted has been led to believe that Mary has become fat white trash in a wheelchair. Pat and Mary start dating.

Well, by the end of the movie, every man who is involved in the story has tried to make a move on Mary. We all know how it ends, but it's one funny ride. One thing about this movie that's commendable is how the mentally retarded character is treated. He is treated in a way that isn't rude, or offensive. Mary sticks up for him, and he's really innocent. The funniest gag in the movie involves a NEW brand of HAIR GEL (compliments of Ted, and tested by Mary). I won't tell you what's really being mistaken for hair gel, but when you find out, you'll laugh so hard, you gag. This movie knows what a comedy of this type should be like. Each gag goes somewhere, and is really big. They're usually extended scenes with punchlines. Me, Myself, and Irene goes for the cheapest laughs you can find, but There's Something About Mary takes it's time, carefully planning each gag, in order to make it gut-bustingly hilarious. That's just what this movie is. 10/10.

It is rated R for Strong Comic Sexual Content, and Language. Sex: 8/10 Violence: 3/10 Swearing: 9/10 Drugs: 2/10

Unconventional satire stays on course while delivering major laughs

[rachdeveraux · 21 April 2000]

A lot of my friends said they hated this, but after i saw it and loved what I saw, it became apparent that many of these people hadn't seen it, they just KNEW they would hate it from the degradingly mysoginistic slapstick it supposedly represented. Sorry, wrong movie. This is a classic satire, replete with balladeer narrator. The gags flow fast and funny and expertly walk the tightrope between politically incorrect and unkind. This is surprisingly a movie that is very true to itself and its characters with a lot of plotlines that tie up nicely in unusual ways. And, it's a feel-good movie too. Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller are marvelous together in the leads.

Funny, but surprisingly sweet too.

[Chris J. · 7/10 · 10 December 1998]

The shock comedy aside (zipper and hair gel scenes), purposeful unpolitically correct moments (humor at expense of handicapped, animal cruelty), the most surprising thing about this film is it has heart and is rather sweet. It's not the completely nasty, cruel comedy you might have been expecting. There's a nice love story in here too. It's corny and cliche'd and doesn't feel overly cloying because there are enough shockingly funny moments to offset it. The acting is good, the pacing brisk, and the jokes, well... you've heard all about the best ones by now.

There's Something About Mary

[Coxer99 · 9/10 · 13 June 1999]

Insanely off the wall comedy from the Farrelly Brothers that delivers from start to finish. Wonderful early sequence with Keith David as Diaz's father busting heavily braced Stiller's chops. Stiller's zipper scene goes down as one of the funniest and most painful things I have ever witnessed on film. Diaz is divine the woman of Stiller's dreams...Dillon is hired to find Diaz...He falls in love with her and gives Stiller a bum story... Lee Evans, a pizza boy, is in love with her too... then Brett Favre comes into the picture. Every scene has something memorable from Dillon's attempts at reviving a dog to Stiller's "pre date entertainment." A classic that doesn't take itself too seriously.

One of those comedies where you groan or cringe as much as you laugh. But such laughs!!

[secondtake · 6/10 · 9 January 2010]

There's Something About Mary (1998)

A goofy, mixed bag of a film, but with a few gut-ripping hilarious scenes that you can't miss. You have to like silly stuff. You have to put up with some padding here and there (I don't recommend the longer version unless you are already love the movie). And you have to turn a blind eye to political correctness (it has none, though not like Borat, which feeds off it, more just incidentally).

Ben Stiller is great in his own way, lovable and dull at the same time, which is the idea. The other supporting male actors are comic regulars, and not my favorites, but they do what this kind of movie needs them to do. Even Bret Favre is as stiff on camera and as beefy as a quarterback is supposed to be.

But there is, naturally, something about Cameron Diaz, that clicks with audiences--her cute, perky charm, most of all. That fact that all these guys like her for her looks is not the most enlightened approach to love, is it? But then, this isn't a high brow movie, or one with scruples in particular. It's a pretty clumsy movie, in many ways, just a series of gags that sometimes are just too funny for words. "Sometimes" being more often than a lot of other comedies.

Funniest film since "Blazing Saddles," only sweeter

[slokes · 10/10 · 4 December 2003]

Did you ever see those annoying pop-up online ads about looking up old high-school friends? Did you ever stop to think that this movie is probably responsible? Really, there could be no other impetus for people to want to revisit the horrors of young adulthood then this sterling advertisement for reaching back and reclaiming the best of your past.

Ben Stiller is a sad-eyed magazine writer named Ted who never got over the girl of his high school dreams, Mary, who vanished from his life after a single date in which getting horizontal meant being carted away in an ambulance. Ted has seedy detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) investigate a lead in Miami. Healy finds her and reports back that she's a walrus in a wheelchair. Ted thinks maybe he should check up on her anyway, to see if he can be helpful to her, but Healy explains she's now en route to Japan as a mail-order bride.

Ted: What are they, desperate! She's a whale.

Healy: It's a sumo culture. They pay by the pound.

Actually, Healy is not being entirely truthful. Mary is single, ambulatory, and quite the fox in the form of Cameron Diaz. By the time Ted learns the truth, Healy's already putting on the moves on Mary with the help of a fake identity and a pair of gargantuan dentures. To counter this, without himself being exposed as a `stalker,' Ted has to reintroduce himself under similarly false pretenses. Will Mary go for this old near-flame? And what will happen when she learns the truth?

A winning romantic comedy with gut-busting boundary-breaking bathroom humor and a sly sense of what makes people tick, `There's Something About Mary' is impossibly optimistic and reassuring even as it buries your head in the gutter for cheap laughs. That's probably what redeems it and makes it such a joy to watch over and over again, the fact that this proto-`American Pie' has a real heart. The makers of the film, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, reveal in their DVD commentary that Ted's reaction to Healy's news of Mary's condition is the key to making the film work, and they are right.

Frankly, I could live in a world without `American Pie' and so many other stupid raunch-fests of its ilk, but `Mary' is pure gold all the way through. Not only is the comedy saved by virtue of its brilliance (I never heard a theater laugh so hard all the way through as I did seeing this in a stuffy Greenwich, CT cinema), it's also a very cleverly put-together film, with a lot of plot twists that hold up as well as the humor during repeat viewings. It's interesting to read people's comments and see them say that it would have been a good film if they had held off on the bad-taste stuff. That was kind of what put it on the map in the first place, the `hair gel' scene and Magda's breasts and Ted's zipper problems, but I see what they mean. You almost could make this film into a Hallmark romantic film, with minimal comedy of any kind, and it would still be interesting. I don't think I'd watch it 23 times like I have this version, however. The film never stops upping the ante on the ick-meter, a large part of what makes it brilliant.

Diaz and Stiller blend very well together, with special kudos to Diaz for being so utterly wonderful and charming in the title role. You understand what the title means without ever having it explained. Also terrific are the supporting players, major ones like Matt Dillon and Chris Elliott as well as Harland Williams as the six-minute abs guy and, of course, Puffy the dog. Jonathan Richman and his drummer are especially valuable in their cameo bits that bookend the various acts in the movie, with songs that manage to be as funny and affecting as the show they are built around. And the end credit sequence is the all-time best. I still smile when I hear `Build Me Up Buttercup' on the radio, don't you?

Goofy, low brow humour- but it has something...

[Meredith-7 · 7/10 · 19 November 1999]

In the past I have not been a great fan of the Farrelly brothers films, however this film is an exception. The dog scenes were probably the funniest personally, but there were heaps of other scenes that are well worth a mention. Cameron Diaz was fantastic as Mary, the girl everyone is after and Ben Stiller was excellent. Matt Dillon was way too over the top- I know his role somewhat warranted it- but did he have to be so excessive? He seemed so irritating. There is no doubt that the humour in this film is of the lowest possible calibre, but it really works- think Dumb & Dumber, but only quite good. Despite all the comic situations in the film, there is still something undeniably sweet in the centre of the story, I think thats what made it work. Its certainly not top class entertainment, but its highly recommended for when you are in a stupid mood and need a good laugh.

There's something about Mary, and I agree.

[Number8 · 9/10 · 11 August 1999]

The plot is nothing new: A guy trying to get the love of the one he admired. We all have seen something like this in the past, and we will see something like this in the future. But in this movie the plot isn't important.

When you watch it you just know how it's gonna end, and so the focus is not on the plot but the actual happenings in the movie, and there's a lot. First, the movie is funny, with its many gags that just keeps on coming (a Farrelly Bros. tradition). They might not be in everyone's taste, but at least they aren't forced or out of place. Second, the people seem real enough to be in the situations they brought themselves into (kudos for the great acting, though it could be better). Third, Cameron Diaz is adorable, beautiful, and a marvel to look at. Plus, she got the job carrying the whole movie and she accomplished that ever so gracefully. You just can't help but fall in love with her too, along with every guy in the film.

This is a very good romantic comedy by the Farrelly Bros.. Just like in "Dumb and Dumber" or "King Pin", the brothers have made a comedy that has just the right amount of everything. Excellent job!!

Funny but crude.

[bazookamouth-221-898097 · 8/10 · 12 October 2018]

This is gross out comedy classic; Its aged relatively well as 20 years have passed now. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes crude and disgusting, maybe the very best movie from the Farrelly Brothers. Outstanding Matt Dillon in one of his best roles. The hair gel scene is infamous now as is the bathroom scene. Very funny and Cameron Diaz was so gorgeous in this. Classic stuff

This movie was so very overrated...

[Fish_Hook · 6/10 · 20 January 2000]

it disappointed me in all ways... So very corny, so predictable One type of humour that I do not really appreciate (too ironic, I guess)

cheap entertainment...

BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!

[Dar Star · 2/10 · 11 February 1999]

I was expecting one of the funniest movies ever, but laughs were very rare. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for something really hilarious to happen, but it never did. Dumb and Dumber was hilarious from the very start when Jim Carrey drove up to the Austrian girl and said G'day Mate. This movie sorely missed the comic talent of Carrey or even Jeff Daniels. This was basically a Chris Elliott movie, see Cabin Boy for details.

There's definitely something about this film that draws one to watch it

[michaelsibley416 · 13 September 2004]

There's definitely something about this film. When I saw this film, I was thinking of The Wedding Singer because both movies were set relatively the same time and both lead actresses happened to be blonde.

I thought Ben Stiller played an excellent character in Ted as he tried locate the girl he had a crush on in high school. Cameron Diaz was superb in her role as Mary and the actor who played her brother was an excellent addition to the movie because he played his part as a disabled man really well. I'm not a real huge Matt Dillon fan and his role in this movie didn't do much to change my mind. He was very despicable as the sleazy private investigator who has the task of tracking the high school crush down; however, what he doesn't tell Ted when he does find her makes this film more interesting.

Who would think that this film has twists that would blow the audience away; it does and not just one, it has two. These twists are really something of a shock, especially to me who was not expecting it to occur the way it did.

Overall, this film was enjoyable I wouldn't mind seeing it a second time.

Lame Comedy

[kenjha · 6/10 · 9 April 2010]

Years after a disastrous date with the high school beauty queen, a nerd hires a private detective to find her. The film has some amusing moments (Stiller wrestling a little dog, the famous hair gel scene), but the pacing is too lethargic for a comedy and it goes on much too long. The humor is sophomoric, which is fine if the gags are funny but for the most part they are not. Diaz displays a fine flair for comedy. This role served as a blueprint for Stiller's career while the film did so for the Farrelly Brothers (who'll never be confused for the Coen Brothers). Dillon seems to be having fun. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the audience.

One Of The Funniest Films Ever Made

[Theo Robertson · 9/10 · 10 April 2003]

I don`t like comedies but I do enjoy much of the Farrelly Brothers stuff and THERE`S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY is their greatest achievment which is probably down to their casting . Ben Stiller is perfect as Ted while Matt Dillon is absolutely outstanding as sleazy ( And boy do I mean sleazy ) private investigator Pat Healy . My only criticism is of Cameron Diaz who`s slightly bland , but she is attractive and that`s all that matters

I suppose how funny you`ll find this film is down to your own subjective opinion of what should or shouldn`t be made fun of . I`ll be honest and say that jokes featuring stalking , serial killers , semen , spiking doggie snacks with drugs and learning difficulties are all fair game ,and perhaps I`m being too honest in saying I laughed out loud at these serious subjects being made fun of ?

Sorry if this review has been very short but I find it difficult to write hundreds of words about a film I love

Something about weirdos that'll have you laughing so hard that it hurts...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 13 September 2006]

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY that has every man in the film falling for her (sometimes literally) in a comedy that moves along with gay abandon and no shortage of slapstick silliness. Mary is played with breezy style by CAMERON DIAZ (a throwback perhaps to Carole Lombard's wackiness in this sort of thing), and, of course, BEN STILLER gets to play the lovesick fool who ruins his first prom date with her by getting stung by his zipper.

There are too many sight gags here to enumerate, but the funniest have to do with Mary's dog and the other is the famous scene where hair-gel takes on a new meaning.

MATT DILLON is the sleazy friend who agrees to find the missing Mary after many years have separated Stiller and Diaz, only to find that he's instantly in love with her too. Naturally, he tells Stiller that she's turned into a blimp in a wheelchair--and you can predict that when Stiller finds out the truth there will be hell to pay.

Hilarious moments dominate the breezy comedy from the Farrelly Brothers, full of visual and verbal gags that are non-stop until the last moment. By all means, worth seeing unless you're completely grossed out by this type of humor.

This movie could easily make you dislke men!...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 26 December 2018]

... because just about every man in the film is a liar. In 1985 Ted (Ben Stiller) is a geeky teenager who has a crush on beautiful Mary (Cameron Diaz). He asks her out to the prom, and she accepts. But before they can even go on their date disaster strikes in every possible, unintentional, and humiliating way for Ted, and the date never happens.

Thirteen years later, Ted still can't get Mary off of his mind and decides to hire a detective to look for her. What follows is a hilarious and rather gross tale of deceit between Mary's suitors and between the suitors and Mary, all carrying things to the point of the ridiculous to win the love of Mary. And then there is the mysterious "Brett", Mary's old boyfriend, who doesn't make an appearance until the end. All the time Mary is delightfully clueless to be so smart - she's an orthopedic surgeon.

There are supporting almost cameo appearances by Markie Post of "Night Court" fame as Mary's mother, Keith David as Mary's rather angry stepfather - at Ted not Mary , W. Earl Brown as Mary's mentally handicapped brother, and Lin Shaye as Mary's neighbor with the shoe leather tan who is playing the same kind of "gross out" role that she played in the Farrelly Brothers' film "Kingpin".

Along the way is a stalker with a shoe fetish, the shooting of a minstrel where the bullet was meant for Ted, a mass murderer, a yorkshire terrier with the engine and fortitude of twelve rottweilers, and a great music video of the song I will forever associate with this film - "Build Me Up Buttercup".

Highly recommended for people who know when not to take things so seriously. It still cheers me up over twenty years later.

That's A Sore Point

[Jeremy-4 · 6/10 · 18 March 1999]

I shall assume that most people know the basic plot of this romantic comedy about a man trying to track down his High School sweetheart and cut directly to the chase. This is not nearly as good a film as the critics would have you believe. The styles that make up this film (gross out comedy and romantic fluff) really do not work together. The result is a film that, like some of the characters, is schizophrenic. However, there are many good points to be going on with.

In many places the film is very, very, funny. The infamous `trapped in trouser-fly' scene is cleverly put together, and the whole 1985 prologue is extremely well thought-out. Keith David walks away with the acting honours for the whole movie as Mary's black step-father, who also gets the best line: `Don't make me open a can of Whoop-ass now!'. Bad taste proliferates here like fungus in a petri dish. A dog is poisoned, resuscitated with an electric cord, set on fire and fed Speed, there is some terrifying nudity, and the hair-gel sequence has already passed into American movie folklore. Do not watch this film if you are easily offended. The performances are not bad in general, but there is something lacking. Ben Stiller gets surprisingly little to do, and Lee Evans' American accent is very bad for such a talented comedian. On the other hand, Diaz is surprisingly good, making the best of a badly written character.

The Farellys seem to think that they can handle the gentler sections, but the opposite is unfortunately the case. They are incapable of the softer scenes between Stiller and Diaz, and constantly inject humour into all the wrong places. On the whole the film is quirky, with popular folk singer Jonathan Richman narrating through song and getting shot at the end. If you don't expect too much from this then you will enjoy yourself, particularly if you see it with friends as I did. But when the trailers are more exciting than the film itself, you can't help thinking twice about whether you should have seen Armageddon instead.

Top 10 comedies ever made

[[e-mail] · 10/10 · 29 March 2019]

This film is without doubt one of the funniest films ever made. Amazing performances from everyone combined with a fantastic script make it laugh out loud hilarious. Will make your stomach hurt from laughing so much.

A love it or hate it movie........

[azaro666 · 7/10 · 28 January 2000]

Thats the way the world is unfortunately. There are two types of people those who love movies like this beacuse they are very funny and those who don't because they have a manner which means they have to look for problems wherever they look (Read politicians, minority groups). There really is no need to go and see a movie like this if you want to come out and complain. You've seen their previous movies, don't buy a ticket. The deal with the Farrellys is that they understand that if something is funny then it should be laughed at. Someone falls over, laugh. Don't go and help him up. Mary has the ability to make the viewer laugh. More than once and more frequently than not. In my opinion that makes a comedy a good comedy. I truly believe that you stick any old actors into brilliant material and situations as are in mary then you will laugh. That being said though the ensemble really do pull together and play off each other to startling effect and even the Farrelly regulars have some great moments. Lee Evans in particular has broken America and looks to have a bright future ahead of him in film. Stiller is Stellar and Diaz a bombshell once more. Even Matt Dillon proves 'I can do comedy'.

Great

[muhammad-66903 · 9/10 · 9 March 2021]

This movie is one of the funniest movies ever I have watched so many comedy movies but this one of the best comedy movies ever.

Something...

[Thanos_Alfie · 7/10 · 5 March 2014]

"There's Something About Mary" is a comedy and romance movie which has to do with a man who gets a chance to meet his dream girl from high school and in his date comes the disaster. We also watch in this movie how was this disaster and how he wants to comeback stronger and surest.

I liked this movie because of the plot and the storyline. I also liked the direction of Bobby Farrelly's and Peter Farrelly's. I believe that the interpretation of Cameron Diaz who plays as Mary was simply great and Ben Stiller's who plays as Ted was equally great. Another good interpretation made by Matt Dillon who plays as Healy.

Lastly I have to tell you that "There's Something About Mary" is a really nice movie which I believe you will love, it combines romance and love with comedy and laugh.

Crude, tasteless, vulgar, not funny and those are the good points

[Bill-147 · 1/10 · 30 April 1999]

Well if you can't seem to get enough of jokes about the handicapped, sexual stalkers and pointless masturbation scenes then Something About Mary is just the movie for you. However, if you have an inkling of taste leave the sophmoric humor to the sophomores and spend the evening doing something a lot more fun like getting a root canal. Not only did I find the movie offensive and humorless but this pointless dribble droned on for over two hours. When I looked at the time on the VCR counter at 1 hour I thought at least it will be over soon. Please don't think I'm just some prude who is easily offended. I can appreciate silly and moronic humor with the best of them. This movie is like a two hour episode of Beavis and Butthead without the class and wit of Beavis and Butthead. Please avoid this movie at all costs.

I Don't Get It

[UACW · 12 July 1999]

I don't get it - after hearing so much hype about this movie I finally went and saw it. And IMHO it's one of the worst pictures of the year. A hodge-podge of cheap meaningless jokes that lead nowhere at all, an ending that puts both Agatha Christie and Monty Python to shame, and rather bad acting to boot. But worst of all is the screenplay. This is not comedy - these are cheap shots, and don't deserve to be called a "movie".

IMHO.