Can You Stand The Humor Of There's Something About Mary

Sometimes Western civilization declines in deliriously funny style. Why bother to list the myriad offenses given by ''There's Something About Mary,'' the proudly obnoxious new film by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, when it's easier -- definitely much too easy -- to enjoy them? In the raunchy wake of ''Dumb and Dumber'' and ''Kingpin,'' the Farrelly brothers have made a romantic comedy that's a hoot in every sense, worth a smidgen of disapproval and a whole lot of helpless laughter. But the Farrellys are as gleeful as they are crude, and they certainly aren't witless. The film works ridiculously well because it never stoops to being mean-spirited or (despite all appearances) authentically inane.
　　
There's Something About Mary features the immortal story of "boy meets girl, boy loses girl when a certain body part becomes the victim of a freak accident, boy starts stalking girl." The boy in question is a nerdy Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller, sporting weird teeth, ears, and hair), and the girl in question is Mary (Cameron Diaz, positively radiating charisma). There are a few more components in this simple and touching love story: a sleazy private investigator, Pat Healy (Matt Dillon with a moustache which looks like a dead earthworm), who starts stalking Mary; a dweeby architect (Lee Evans, previously seen in Mouse Hunt), who starts stalking Mary; Ted's buddy Dom (Chris Eliot, with the award-winning-caliber makeup boiling all over him), who starts. Well, by now you get the idea.
　　
Mixed up into this heartwarming narrative are the jokes, which deal with subjects including, but not limited to: masturbation, various bodily fluids, gays, serial killers, sagging breasts, and, of course, aforementioned attempts to cue humor from mental and physical handicaps and stalking.
　　
Let me make one thing perfectly clear - I don't object to jokes based on any of the above because of the subject matter. One could simply rent A Fish Called Wanda and see a good number of riotously funny sequences which deal with such subjects as marital infidelity and stuttering. No, the reason why I didn't find There's Something About Mary funny was that most of the "envelope- pushing" jokes simply didn't work. I'm somewhat dumfounded pondering how anyone could think it was possible to successfully elicit laughs from this subject matter.
　　
A prom, a crush and a cruel, cruel zipper set ''There's Something About Mary'' in motion. It seems that Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller in braces), a kind of Everydweeb, is destined to ruin the biggest night of his young life. Notably unsuccessful in recruiting a prom date (''If everything else falls apart, maybe'' is the best answer he gets), Ted suddenly catches the eye of Mary Jenson, played by Cameron Diaz with a blithe comic style that makes her as funny as she is dazzling. Miracle of miracles, Mary makes Ted her designated prom date for that fateful night.
　　
Stiller's character has had the memory of a disastrous prom date with Mary casting a shadow over his love life for years and decides to track down the "one that got away", only to find he has to compete with much more devious wannabe suitors. The film is completely fearless in its pursuit of laughs – no subject is taboo. You know Mary and Ted will end up together, but the Farrellys make sure that the finale isn't arrived at easily or predictably and, most importantly, that it's a lot of fun to get there.
　　
Sure, the plot may sound like your typical romantic comedy -- but not with the Farrelly brothers at the helm. These are the same guys who brought you Dumb and Dumber, with its toilet humor and political incorrectness. Instead, this is a frat guy's idea of a romantic comedy, full of jokes at the expense of disabled people and women. Sure, the guys who fall for Mary are the ultimate joke; undeveloped man-boy idiots drooling over her charms -- how many leggy blondes are doctors who love beer and football?
　　
If you can't stand this kind of humor, stay clear. And it's certainly not the thing for anyone with dating horror stories -- Chris Elliot's character won't be funny at all. But the film definitely has enough to satisfy adult gross-out humor fans.
　　
To reassure non-Farrelly fans of sound judgment, there are at least as many zit jokes here as other types of witticisms, with Chris Elliott in the abrasive role of Ted's blotchy best friend. As equal-opportunity offenders, the Farrellys also kid about a serial killer, mental illness, wizened old breasts and a half-dead dog, and they make these things unabashedly funny. The dog and its sun-shriveled owner (Lin Shaye) are the film's looniest characters, and Mary's mentally handicapped brother is one of its sweetest. The joke is on Healy when, in trying to impress Mary with his bogus compassion, he cites ''work with retards'' as his cherished hobby.
　　
Destined for instant notoriety is a sequence that starts off with masturbation and ends up with hair gel. But by the time it happens, you're sure to be either in the unaccountably innocent spirit of ''There's Something About Mary'' or on the way home. I hope it's not the latter. The Farrellys display a crazy audacity that's worth admiring, and they take sure aim for the funny bone. ''There's Something About Mary'' may be many things, but dull and routine aren't among them.

Thirteen years pass, and Ted is still pining away for Mary, so his friend Dom (Chris Elliott) persuades him to send a detective named Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to find her. Except when Healy finds Mary, he decides he wants her for himself.
　　
Like the other Farrelly Brothers' movies, nothing is out of bounds here, and there are a lot of things that, after laughing, you wonder if you should have laughed. But you laugh just the same.A near-perfect script, crack comic editing, and some really great performances synergize here to make one of the great comedies of the '90s (along with the other two Farrelly flicks).

How Can Loss Also Be An Occasion For Learning, Sharing, And Emotional Maturation?

THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS follows four high school girl friends who separate for the summer and vow to keep in touch by way of a pair of blue jeans that magically fits all their different body sizes perfectly. They mail the jeans to one another, along with letters to keep up with what's happening in each other's lives. Lena (Alexis Bledel) is shy and quiet, on her way to Greece to visit relatives; aspiring documentary-maker Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) resents being stuck working at a local Wal-Mart-type store; golden girl Bridget (Blake Lively) is dealing with her mom's suicide and distant father as she heads to soccer camp in Mexico; and young writer Carmen (America Ferrera) goes to North Carolina to visit with her long-absent father, Al (Bradley Whitford), who announces he's about to marry Lydia (Nancy Travis), whose two blond teens seem complete opposites of Carmen. During their vacations, they explore their emerging sense of independence, while figuring out how to maintain relationships with their families and with each other, and each girl learns a valuable life lesson.
　　
Families can talk about the film's depiction of loyalty and loss, especially as each of the girls loses something precious, but also gains experience and faith in herself and her best friends. How do you support your friends when they feel sad or angry? How can you be mad at someone but also, at the same time, still love him or her? How can loss also be an occasion for learning, sharing, and emotional maturation?
　　
We're dealing in symbolism here so it doesn't pay to question the physics. It's a tribute to the story's involving charm and the angst-filled journeys of the four girls that the jeans' flexible characteristics are, if not plausible, at least accepted. After all, "These aren't just jeans," declares the Paris Hilton-esque Bridget (Blake Lively) "they make things happen." And happen they certainly do.
　　
The four girls - Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Carmen (America Ferrera), Lena (Alexis Bledel) and Bridget - have been a foursome since their mothers met at a pre natal exercise class. Despite their differing backgrounds and privilege, the girls have formed a tight bond, one which is being challenged as they all go their separate ways in life. Having discovered the jeans' special properties, the girls draw up a manifesto outlining the rules for the ownership of the pants which will be passed around every week. The rules vary from the unhygienic (they can't wash the pants) to the revelatory (they have to disclose what happened while wearing them).

Four friends - Tibby (Amber Tamblyn), Lena (Alexis Bledel), Carmen (America Ferrera), and Bridget (Blake Lively) - who have done everything together their entire lives find themselves, on the summer of their 16th year, separating for the first time. In order to keep themselves close even while separated, they agree to share a pair of second-hand jeans that magically fits all of them while they go on their separate life altering adventures.
　　
It sounds like it should be incredibly trite, but it never really is, despite a few alarming dips into the waters of clich. Strong, if slightly overdone, performances from the four leads carry a well-crafted film along to its emotional but never quite poignant ending. Director Ken Kwapis keeps events flowing smoothly between the four stories with skillful intercutting, giving each story its due time to build. The only one that gets a short shrift is Bridget's, which feels like it's building to an emotional realization but never quite gets there. Carmen's story of estrangement from her father (Bradley Whitford) and his life is the best of the bunch; her emotional confrontation with him is well done by everyone involved and rings true with pathos and turmoil.
　　
The only real problem with the film is the dialogue, which isn't bad, but is so self-aware and adult it often does not fit coming out of these supposed teenager's mouths. And the younger the characters get, the more adult their dialogue is. Twelve-year-old Bailey (Jenna Boyd) who is dying of leukemia sounds like an old man talking about mysteries of life. Certainly the knowledge of impending death will create a certain amount of lucidity for anyone, but there are some thing's twelve-year-olds can't know because they haven't had the life experience yet. It sounds too often like the writer is speaking instead of the character.

With that understanding they all go off for the summer. Bridget heads to Mexico for soccer camp, Lena visits her grandparents in Greece, Carmen visits her estranged father and his new family while Tibby remains at home, working in a local store and making a documentary. Through their various experiences, the film explores poignantly, under the sympathetic and patient guidance of director Ken Kwapis, the emotional vulnerability of being a teenage girl. It deals with loss, love and identity. Away from each other, they begin to discover themselves. But away from each other they also have pangs of loneliness, which is why they are always so excited when it's their turn for the jeans and they are reconnected with their sisterhood.
　　
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants is a sweet and moving drama with strong performances from all four girls who each bring a very different presence. It does allow itself to become a little maudlin at times, but its virtues make such weaknesses forgivable. Aimed squarely at a female market, there's enough in Traveling Pants to make it a good fit for a wider audience.