There's Something About Mary
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| There's Something About Mary | |
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 There's Something About Mary DVD |
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| Directed by | Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly |
| Produced by | Frank Beddor Michael Steinberg Charles B. Wessler Bradley Thomas |
| Written by | Ed Decter John J. Strauss Bobby Farrelly Peter Farrelly |
| Starring | Ben Stiller Cameron Diaz Matt Dillon Lee Evans Chris Elliott |
| Music by | Jonathan Richman |
| Cinematography | Mark Irwin |
| Editing by | Christopher Greenbury |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
| Release date(s) | July 15, 1998 (United States) |
| Running time | 119 min. (theatrical release) 134 min. (director's cut) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $23,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
There's Something About Mary is an American film released in 1998 by 20th Century Fox, directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly (the Farrelly brothers). A combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film, it stars Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris Elliott, Lin Shaye, W. Earl Brown, Lee Evans and Jeffrey Tambor, with cameo appearances by football star Brett Favre (who plays himself), Sarah Silverman, Keith David, and Harland Williams.
This sleeper hit was the third-highest-grossing movie of 1998 in North America—the highest-grossing comedy—and it catapulted Stiller into the limelight. Until Wedding Crashers was released in 2005, There's Something About Mary was the most successful youth-aimed R-rated comedy film at the box office.
There's Something About Mary was placed 27th in the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (see the 100 Years Series), a list of the 100 funniest movies of the 20th century. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 4th greatest comedy film of all time. This film is number 4 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
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[edit] Plot
An awkward and shy high-schooler, Ted (Ben Stiller) lands a prom date with his dream girl Mary (Cameron Diaz), just to have it cut short by a painfully humiliating zipper accident. Thirteen years later he's still in love—maybe even obsessed—with the one that got away, so he hires sleazy private detective Pat (Matt Dillon) to track her down living in Miami, only to have Pat fall for the irresistible Mary as well. Ted and Pat resort to lying, cheating and stalking in their competition for Mary (Pat tries to dissuade Ted by telling him that Mary has grown unattractive), and discover that they're not the only men (or women) who will use depraved measures to be near her.
[edit] Reaction
The movie's over-the-top and sometimes disturbing gross-out humor earned it an R rating from the MPAA, but made it a smash hit at the box office. The most notorious scene features Stiller's character masturbating and losing track of his ejaculate. Diaz's character notices it clinging to his ear, mistakes it for extra hair gel, and spreads it in her own hair. The "hair gel" scene spread by word of mouth, and later ads for the movie capitalized on its notoriety.
[edit] Cast
- Cameron Diaz as Mary
- Matt Dillon as Pat Healy
- Ben Stiller as Ted
- Lee Evans as Tucker
- Chris Elliott as Dom
- Lin Shaye as Magda
- Jeffrey Tambor as Sully
- Markie Post as Mary's Mom
- Keith David as Mary's Dad
- W. Earl Brown as Warren
- Sarah Silverman as Brenda
- Khandi Alexander as Joani
- Marnie Alexenberg as Lisa
- Dan Murphy as Boss' Brother
- Richard Tyson as Detective Krevoy
- Rob Moran as Detective Stabler
- Jackie Flynn as South Carolina Police
- Hillary Matthews as Dom's Wife
- Willie Garson as Dr. Zit Face/High School Pal
[edit] Cameos
Jonathan Richman makes numerous cameo appearances as a lone and sometimes accompanied musician, as part of a Greek Chorus, commenting on the plot throughout the film.
[edit] Trivia
- The Dandy Warhols song "Everyday Should Be A Holiday" appeared in this film.
- San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young was originally slated to play Brett Favre's role. Young later backed out and was replaced by Favre when he objected to the vulgarity of the film (Young is a staunch member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Favre's appearance allowed for Stiller's memorable mispronunciation of his last name as "Favrrrerah". Diaz mentions her love for Joe Montana near the beginning, and professes to be a 49ers fan. Later, when her neighbour named Magda asks about her first date with Dillon and as to how good looking he is, she replies, "He's no Steve Young."
- While Ben Stiller was being lifted into the ambulance after his "zipper incident", the ambulance workers drop the stretcher he was on then quickly pick it back up. This wasn't in the original script, but the directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly thought it was much funnier than the original plan, so they decided to leave it in.
- There are many references to Boston made throughout the film. Dom at one point wears a Bruins hat and Ted brings Warren a baseball signed by famed Red Sox outfielder Tony Conigliaro. Lenny Clarke also appears as the firefighter. Lenny Clarke is among Boston's most famous comedians.
[edit] Similar "hair gel" occurrences
- Filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote a scene similar to the "hair gel" scene for Mallrats three years earlier, in which Jay and Silent Bob masturbate while watching Joey Lauren Adams in a dressing room and ejaculate over the wall. However, the scene was heavily re-written after being deemed tasteless by the studio, who said "nobody will ever laugh at cum in the hair". Smith apparently regrets this decision and has since noted that "cum in the hair is gold". (This information is from the Mallrats audio commentary track, where Smith also explicitly states that this is a coincidence, not the result of somebody stealing his jokes.)
- The "hair gel" scene was once again spoofed in the TV show Family Guy. In the episode The King is Dead from season 2, Stewie Griffin plays Mary and uses the "hair gel" in his hair, causing it also to stand up.
- The "hair gel" scene was also spoofed in a TV Funhouse animated skit on Saturday Night Live. As Bill Clinton was preparing a videotaped message, a gooey substance (in reference to the Lewinsky scandal) fell onto his head. He then rubbed it into his hair, causing it to stand up. Funnily enough the night that this TV Funhouse aired was also a night when Cameron Diaz, star of There's Something About Mary, was hosting Saturday Night Live.
- As a promotional giveaway item, branded hair gel sample packets were released. The back of the packet lists instructions on use and inserts several sexual innuendoes ("work in with hands", "results will come naturally").
