Customer Reviews

There's Something About Mary (D-VHS)

5 star:		(185)
4 star:		(97)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(68)

 

 

I really can't understand how this one didn't get five stars from everyone here. I mean I know that tastes differ, but I think people may have been expected something this one couldn't possibly deliver. As a comedy, it is absolutely phenomenal. I really have to say that it's the only movie of the nineties that can match up with Stripes or Animal House. It's utterly amazing.

There's Something about Mary is a mélange of every kind of comedy. There's slapstick, physical situation, and intellectual social satire. This movie made Ben Stiller and rightly so. I recall seeing it in the theatre and not being able to breathe at times due to the convulsions erupting from my abdomen. No time was this more true than when Stiller walks into the gay rest stop and gets busted, but there are a million scenarios that could be cited. All the actors were sensational. Matt Dillon's character is exquisite in his cheesiness and he really excels in his role especially when he's playing football with the "retards" and showing off his sensitive side by pummeling them on the gridiron. Chris Elliot is exceptional in his role and any film that features Jonathan Richman that much is special and rare. I could not recommend this one any more.

I hate it when they don't create a Blu Ray with a proper master copy! Why the hell would they bother using a lower quality copy to create this??!?! It's just plain lazy. Don't bother buying, as it is obviously about the same picture quality as the DVD you already own!

WAKE UP MOVIE STUDIOS!! IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE HIGH DEF, FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER, WHY WOULD WE BOTHER BUYING IT IF THE PICTURE IS THE SAME AS DVD!!!

You will laugh from begining to end with this movie. The humor is very crude at times, but not raunchy. I found myself saying,"oh my" and at the same time laughing out loud.
The storyline is unpredictable and extremely enjoyable.
It is a comedy and love story all in one, intertwined superbly.

I wouldn't recommend watching this with your mom and dad. I am 37 and would have crawled under the carpet if my mom and dad were in the room watching this movie during the scenes "before the big date."

This movie was my first real experience of Ben Stiller and in the numerous times I have seen it, I have yet to tire of it. It endures as one of my favourite movies, and I hate romantic comedies as a rule! However, this is not your usual romantic comedy by any stretch of the imagination.

The story basically carries you along the life of angst ridden, therapy dependent and introverted Ted, (Stiller), as he tries to track down the one high school love he had. That would be Mary, (Diaz). In the process, he sends out a private detective with a host of his own problems, (Dillon), who also falls for this Mary. That is also in addition to the host of others who have fallen for this girl. Throw in a serial killer, a gay bust at a roadside rest stop, Puffy the dog and some healthy doses of speed, and great comedy is what you have.

Stiller is great as the pathetic and somewhat anal-retentive Ted. The role seems excellently suited to Stiller's style of acting and character. He really shines in this movie, and it is largely his work here that has got me to be a large fan of his. Diaz comes across well as the sports loving, butch, but-so-sexy-at-the-same-time perfect woman, Mary. Both of them lack some of the chemistry of other on-screen love interests, but that lack is hardly noticeable in the chaos of the comedy.

Be warned that there is a lot of sexuality used in the jokes, and that some of it is pretty sick. However, overall, the comedy is truly great, even if it has a sick moment or two.

I laughed myself almost to oxygen starved loss of consciousness. I have seen the movie perhaps more than 10 times, and I am not yet bored of it. If comedy of a high standard and only many levels, (some crude levels, too), is your thing, I would recommend you get this movie. It is great!

The Farrelly brothers, who gave us Dumb And Dumber, Kingpin, and Me Myself And Irene, direct There's Something About Mary, a movie that stars Ben Stiller (Meet The Parents), Cameron Diaz (The Mask, Gangs Of New York), Matt Dillon (The Outsiders, Crash), Chris Elliot (Groundhog Day, Scary Movie 2), and many others.

Mary is a story about a Rhode Island loser named Ted, played by Stiller, who can't keep his high school dreamgirl Mary, played by the charming Diaz, out of his mind 13 years after their prom date went terribly wrong way before it happened. He hires an obnoxious guy named Patrick, played by Dillon, to spy on her and tell him what she's been up to. Well, Patrick falls for Mary, and decides to move out to Florida where she resides to get to know her, and he does. Ted discovers that Patrick isn't giving him the truth about Mary and goes out to find her himself. It turns out that Mary has many admirers who try to win her heart (or shoes!) besides the lonely Ted. So the movie becomes a race on who can get her first and forever.

It's a silly tale but under the Farrellys direction, it's a surefire laugh-fest all the way through. Expect to see lots of sick humor like a guy giving a dog CPR, or bodily fluids used as toiletries. Also, the characters in Mary are funny by nature. The funniest character of them all is Warren, Mary's handicapped and heavy set brother, who punches people who touch his ears and loves to give piggy back rides.

Recommended

B-

This was an interesting movie. It kept me laughing so hard that the next morning my stomach muscles felt as if I had done about a 1000 crunches. You will truly enjoy this one, but if you are soft of heart, weak of stomach or easily offended this may not be the movie for you.

Ok, I admit it. This movie is incredibly stupid and has scenes that represent how our culture has turned to toilet humor for laughs, but it is one seriously funny movie. I agree with the other comments that this movie deserves(d) funniest movie of the year. When I saw the previews for it originally, I too thought what a waste of a movie and how stupid can we be, but I constantly heard how funny it was. Stil, I didn't go see it until it was in the dollar cinema with terrible sound and picture quality. Still, the movie was sold out with people seeing it for the upteenth time.....and I laughed my A** off. I was suprised and a little regretful that I chose to miss it at a quality theater. Anyway, now that it is going onsale for preorder DVD, I was first in line to pay for it 3 months before I could actually load it into my player and laugh some more......So, if you don't like it, too bad.....there are other movies to see. And yes, the Simpson's is equally funny, in a different way. Raising Arizona with Nick Cage is also a comic masterpiece, but give movie viewers credit, sometimes, people want to be humored in way that TSAM can give them, without being labeled as infantiles and morons. Believe me, I know many people much more intelligent and smarter than yourself (Scottsdale viewer) have seen and enjoyed Mary more than you could ever imagine. Watch it again, maybe you'll like this time.

There's more than one thing about There's Something About Mary. To start with, we are dealing with the brothers Farrelly. America currently has several sibling teams making movies. The Zucker brothers [Airplane, The Naked Gun] and the Coen brothers [Fargo, The Big Lebowski] are acknowledged as gifted film makers.

Bobby and Peter Farrelly, however, make many reviewers quake in fear. Their aptly named Dumb and Dumber, starring Jim Carrey, was 1994's sixth most successful movie worldwide. The simple fact is that when a team can do that, a studio lets them make whatever they want for a while. Since this latest effort was the 4th biggest movie of 1998, there is even less chance of controlling their projects. They are what we call critic-proof.

Some reviewers, knowing they were powerless, made venomous assaults on Mary, based usually on the fact that the movie revels in its political incorrectness. There's no doubt about that, but others, myself included, saw it as one of life's guilty pleasures. After all, in a society currently so obsessed with toeing the line, with not offending even the smallest minority group, it can be fun to see a flick that threw all caution to the wind. A large segment of the population agreed.

So what groups do the Farrellys target this time around? They go after high schools kids, parents, gay men, straight men, sun worshippers, dogs, law enforcement officers, private detectives, the physically challenged, and the mentally challenged, among others. There is no agenda here. Their observations on the human condition seem to have no boundaries, and they simple did not have time to nail the entire planet.

To add insult to injury, this comedy is of the gross-out variety. As most of us write for general audiences, we were forced to be less than specific about much of the picture. All I should say in print is that the more memorable moments are the zipper scene, the hair gel scene, the biting dog episode, the binoculars incident, the run in at the rest stop, and a look at what real guys do just before a hot date.

So what is this thing about Mary? Part of it is that she is played by the fantastic Cameron Diaz, who I said would be a star after seeing her in My Best Friend's Wedding. I got that one right. The rest is the fact that Mary remains kind, helpful and innocent no matter what happens. While the rest of the characters fight, claw, scream and whine through life, Mary sails gracefully on.

Diaz has excellent support from Ben Stiller as Ted, who has never gotten over his high school crush on her, and from Matt Dillon as Pat, the sleazy private detective Ted hires to find her. It's no surprise when Pat decides to keep Mary for himself. That's the entire plot, by the way.

Throughout the movie, a vagabond keeps reappearing, singing an inane song about Mary and Ted. He eventually gets his, probably for singing off key. This element is a dead giveaway that the movie is a farce and a put on. For anyone trying to comment seriously on it, the joke seems to be on them.

A wonderful and hilarious movie! The DVD is great! No regrets about buying this one. I would certainly recommend this movie to anyone buying their first DVD player. So many things to see on this DVD besides the movie.

I have to admit I didn't think I'd enjoy this movie very much. I was pleasantly surprised to find it a good, fun movie that I wouldn't mind watching again some time.

As you've no doubt know, this is a love story brought to you by the folks who did 'Dumb & Dumber' and 'Kingpin', neither of which I have any interest in watching. Any SNL fans will recognize some of the scene styles. Still, there's something about this movie that makes it worth watching.

As for the DVD extras, I only watched the extended version. There were two different commentary tracks but I didn't get a chance to watch either.

Recommend: Yes
Watch again: Yes