20 years since their first adventure, Lloyd and Harry go on a road trip to find Harry's newly discovered daughter, who was given up for adoption.
Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels resume their slapstick double-act 20 years on, but despite some inspired work with a hot dog, this half-assed sequel leaves you feeling numb and number.
Without overinflating the original film, it possesses a certain squirmy charm, especially with Carrey at the peak of his physical comic powers and Daniels gleefully cutting loose to keep him company. On the other hand, the strained, farcical antics of Dumb And Dumber To are as bracingly joyous as a torn testicle – which also gets a scene in this movie.
Disappointingly limp, with precious few belly laughs, despite a try-hard attitude.
Overlong and underpopulated with gags that really land, there's still moments of mirth for devotees of the original.
While Dumb and Dumber To has as good a laugh count as the original, the plot about mistaken paternity and complex schemes of Penny's adoptive family offer too much contrivance for not enough pay-off.
The dumbest, most wasteful thing here is that so much energy is being expended for so few laughs.
It’s a rental, rather than a visit to the cinema.
Scrappy and crappy but knowingly so.
Verdict: Feeble-minded, and feeble to.
Throw in a murder plot into which Harry and Lloyd unwittingly find themselves drawn and there’s enough comic complication to keep things fizzing dementedly along, even if you’ll groan as often as you guffaw. Carrey and Daniels perform with impressive energy and commitment to the cause of stupid.
The Farrellys, who once had a genuinely anarchic edge, demonstrate a fatal lack of timing – missing the film’s comic beat by around 20 years.
General release. Check local listings for show times.