Carey and Daniels Reunite for ‘Dumb and Dumber To’

Sandra Miska

A lot of memorable films came out in 1994, “Forrest Gump” and “Pulp Fiction,” just to name a few, but only one of the cinematic gems from that year is getting a sequel, and that masterpiece is “Dumb and Dumber.”  Yes, if you haven’t heard Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels have reunited with writer/director brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly to create “Dumb and Dumber To.”

Like in the original, “Dumb and Dumber To” features its heroes Harry Dunne (Daniels) and Lloyd Christmas (Carrey) taking a road trip.  However, this time around, the lady they are in search of is not a married society lady, but Harry’s long-lost daughter.  Harry only learns of the young women when he finally opens a letter from 1991 in which his former lover, Friada Felcher (played by Kathleen Turner in present day, Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence in flashback), tells him she’s pregnant.  Complications arise when Lloyd sees a photo of his buddy’s adult child and instantly falls in love with her.  No word yet if there will be any pets’ heads falling off.

A lot has happened in 20 years, especially for Jeff Daniels, who is currently at the peak of his career.  He currently stars as news anchor Will McAvoy on the hit HBO series The Newsroom, a role that earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2013 and another nomination in 2014.  His fellow Michigan natives know him as someone who has never lost touch with his roots.  The avid Detroit Tigers fan owns the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, MI, for which he often writes plays.  If being a star of film and television and a theater actor/writer weren’t already enough, Daniels is also a musician.  He’s recorded five albums and toured Michigan and Wisconsin this year with his son’s group the Ben Daniels Band.  He recently discussed “Dumb and Dumber To” and working with Jim Carrey with MLive.

“What I like about our chances with the sequel is, we didn’t make the first one two years ago. It’s not a money grab. It was 20 years ago. And 20 years ago, we kind of met and hoped we had chemistry, hoped we could work together, and hoped a lot of 14-year-old boys would think it’s funny! That’s all we had. Twenty years later, we’ve become legends for things that we were guessing at. And now we’re friends. We had a good time making it, and we made this one as friends. And that bleeds into Lloyd and Harry. This isn’t a competition. This is two guys going down the road. If one of us needs help making a joke work, the other guy is there with the setup. … that kind of working together doesn’t always happen.”

Like Daniels, Jim Carrey has been dabbling in different mediums.  He recently published a children’s book, “How Rowland Rolls.” During the production of “Dumber and Dumber To,” Carrey echoed Daniels’ sentiments about how much fun they were having during an interview with ABC7.

“Jeff and I are having a blast and the Farrelly brothers are nuts. They’re completely insane and you look around and everybody’s the same, the whole crew — they just drag everybody along. It’s like the caravan of fun. It’s cool.

‘Dumb and Dumber To’ opens nationwide Nov. 14.