Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

You must understand that I hate toilet humour. Movies like American Pie and Road Trip chuck such crap right in our faces that the only reaction is to hate any and all American teenagers. But this Dumb and Dumber prequel is so innocent and light-hearted by comparison that it is actually a welcome surprise and should not be dismissed as "another unnecessary sequel". Or prequel...whatever!

So it doesn't have Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels! Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson are perfect replacements, as the young and dumb lead characters. Give them a chance. They embody the roles so well that The Gator was completely convinced. Their acting and comic timing is met with clockwork precision and how on earth could older Carrey and Daniels play younger versions of themselves, anyway? Duh!

It's absolutely not intelligent, or sophisticated humour in any way. That much is obvious. But neither was the first movie. And when you're having this much fun, what does it matter? It's free of pretentiousness and doesn't take itself seriously - unlike that OTHER summer movie; you know the one I'm talking about. It's the perfect escape.

The plot concerns an evil high school principal (Eugene Levy, oozing sleaze from every orifice), scamming a charitable organization out of $100,000 to fund his dream of a Hawaiian getaway. In order to do this, he must pretend to set up a special needs class. Harry and Lloyd eagerly accept a place in this, but soon begin to expose the Principal's scheme through hijinks and typically insane antics.

There are inconsistencies and story continuity errors that are a bit annoying, but one can only imagine that they are the result of scenes being cut and the running time shortened. Plus, for an Eighties themed movie, there is not much of a nostalgic feel about it, especially when an embarrassingly Nineties' Vanilla Ice (who?) song comes to life early on.

Once again, who really cares? The movie was surprisingly inventive in places, had an undeniable cheeriness to it and almost every joke made The Gator laugh. It doesn't get my claw of approval, but definitely receives more than a recommendation.