3 stars (out of 5)
Sibling co-writers/co-producers/co-directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly sequelise the movie that put them on the map 20 years ago, and while it couldn’t be as fresh the result is still pretty funny – and awesomely dumb. And stars Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels return, older but in no way wiser, and rather rubberier too.
In the two decades that have passed since the events of DAD1, Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels enjoying the chance to get really stupid after the dramatic weight of TV’s The Newsroom) has been visiting and helping care for his hospitalised pal Lloyd Christmas (Carrey), who’s in a catatonic state as only Jim Carrey can do a catatonic state. When it transpires (no spoilers necessary as it’s in the trailer) that Lloyd’s been putting it on since the mid-90s, the pair agree that it was a great joke and return to their apartment, where a former star of another Farrelly comedy has a cameo, Harry discovers that he has a now-adult daughter named Penny, and he and Lloyd decide that they must find her as Harry’s in need of a kidney transplant. This leads them to Harry’s old girlfriend Fraida Felcher (Kathleen Turner) and then Penny’s adopted parents (Steve Tom and The Walking Dead’s Laurie Holden), who direct them to a science convention at which Penny’s going to be speaking (bad idea) with a package that might save humanity in some vague fashion. However, as Holden’s Adele is a villain (no surprise there), she ensures that Lloyd and Harry travel with the similarly nasty Travis (Rob Riggle), and the stage is set for a rambling, episodic Road Movie second act that slows down for gags that prove agreeably giggle-inducing but also rather more extreme than the original. But hey, this is the 21st Century!
With ‘diaper’ jokes, crystal meth jokes, cat-arse jokes and the expected sniggering sex jokes, as well as direct references to the first pic (“Wanna hear the second most annoying sound in the world?”), cruel digs at Turner’s appearance, more of Daniels’ bum than we needed to see and a jumbled resolution, this is probably just what fans of the Farrellys first film were hoping for. And while Carrey and Daniels have a blast being hopelessly thick, they’re almost upstaged by Rachel Melvin, who plays the also challengingly idiotic Penny beautifully as she reveals that she cares about people so much that she wants to go to India and work for one of those “leprechaun colonies”.
I Wake Up Screening 