DUMB & DUMBER TO: SPOILER-FREE MINI-REVIEW:

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The silence is deafening, and not just any silence, the clichéd silence that comes complete with chirping crickets just to emphasise just how unfunny Dumb and Dumber To really is.

The original came out in 1994, that's right, 1994 - man I feel old. They waited 20 years to make this sequel and unfortunately this seems par for the course for 2015 with new
Terminator, Jurassic Park and Mad Max sequels all on their way just to name a few. Dumb and Dumber To is an example of one that should have just been left alone.

The dense duo go on a road trip to find the long-lost daughter of Jeff Daniel's character Harry in order to get a kidney transplant because he is dying. Well he says he's dying, for a character who requires a new kidney he shows none of the symptoms, problems or typical dramas that would be associated with such an issue.

One big thing that's missing from the sequel is the charm. Granted Jeff Daniels does bring some charm to his portrayal of the dim-witted Harry, but what the hell happened to Jim Carrey's Lloyd?! His character is so selfish and arbitrarily mean that there's little to no redeeming features for his character. At least in the original there was some sweet innocence to the character, now, he's just a borderline c*nt.

The film itself is just not funny, you can see a joke is being made, a very puerile and immature joke, but they just don't land. They are either predictable or rehashed from the original, almost as if the writers were hoping that everyone had forgotten all the original jokes after 20 years.

The interesting thing is that last year, Jim Carrey went to great lengths to distance himself from his role in Kick Ass 2 before it's release. After seeing this I don't understand why he didn't do the same thing here.

The film itself feels uneven on almost every level. From the casting, to the acting, to the set-design, to most importantly the story. The film never seems to have an even or consistent run. Ultimately this film feels like a really bad fan-fiction script that somehow managed to get made into a film starring the original cast.

For a film that stars one of the biggest comedic names of the last 20 years, and being directed by the same guys who put him up there in the first place you would honestly expect some laughs. Not silence, disturbing, awkward silence.

One out of Five poorly written pieces of fan-fiction.