TNMC
This site’s design is only visible in a graphical browser that supports web standards, but its content is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
There’s Something More About Mary
The Farrelly Brother’s third film, There’s Something About Mary, not only was the best comedy of 1998 but one of the funniest films ever made. It was a huge blockbuster success, critical success, and furthered the careers of nearly everybody involved from the directors to the two principle actors, Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller.
The story, for those few of you who have not seen the film, revolves around Ted (Ben Stiller), who, thirteen years after a terrible prom experience with the girl of his dreams, is still jonzing for her. He is not aware of Mary’s (Cameron Diaz) whereabouts and decides to hire a sleazy private detective, Pat (Matt Dillon), to track her down. However, Pat falls for Mary too and finds out soon enough that he isn’t the only one. Gross out gags ensue all while giving the film a heart that makes you care at all the moments you’re not laughing at hysterically.
The film was released on a relatively stacked single disc edition shortly following its theatrical run. The disc, which included director commentary, out takes, a music video, and trailers, seems to be a well put together disc. However, nearly five years after its initial release, Fox decided to give the film a double dip and add a second disc of extras and the much advertised extended version of the film. While There’s Something About Mary was one of the funniest films ever, the extended version of the film, There’s Something More About Mary, is terribly un-funny and one of the worst films ever made.
The reason for failure of the extended version of the film is the same reason both Me, Myself, and Irene and Shallow Hal proved to be failures: the Farrelly’s let their gags go terribly over the top and de-rail the entire production. Take, for instance, an added scene following Pat’s first date with Mary. The Farrelly’s have decided to add a bit when, like a teenager going for his first kiss on a date, Pat asks Mary if he can touch her breasts. She obliges.
This results in everyone who watches the film to look at one another cluelessly. “What the hell was that?”, asked my friend during our viewing of the extended film. “This movie totally sucks now. That ruined it.” As if the groping scene wasn’t enough, the Farrelly’s decide to turn one of the minor characters into a coke head and add a huge snake for gross out value. All in all, the only good things about the added scenes are the video and audio quality; they blend seamlessly into the original film.
Thankfully the DVD comes with the original version of the film on it as well. This time around, Fox has added a writer’s commentary to the first disc, the previous director’s commentary with additional commentary on the extended scenes, and an alternate clay-animated credit sequence. Fox has also added a second disc packed with extra features ranging from a forty-five minute behind the scenes documentary, promotional fluff like the Mary episodes of AMC’s Backstory and Comedy Central’s Canned Ham, MTV Movie Awards footage of the fight between Puffy the Dog and Stiller, the previously produced out takes and music video, to a gratuitous assortment of interviews with everyone from Stiller, Diaz, Dillon, to Brett Favre, Harland Williams, and W. Carl Brown (the actor who played Warren, Mary’s mentally retarded brother).
While some of the bonus material could be disposed of, it still is a stacked disc. If you own the previously released DVD I wouldn’t recommend buying this one just for the extras and extended edition of the film. However, if you don’t own it at all, you can either by the single disc edition for about fifteen dollars or this double-dip for twenty. The choice is yours.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Forums
