Balls Up (2026)

A couple of marketers develop the Balls Up, a condom designed to cover up the balls as well, and pitch it as the official condom of Brazil in the World Cup, before inciting an international incident that has them on the run. I'm sad that this came from one half of the Farrelly Brothers because it's a poor attempt at recreating the raunchy R-rated comedies of its heyday and it lacks any heart.

Buddy comedies usually build on the chemistry of its actors, but Paul Walter Hauser does most of the heavy lifting here. There's so much talent involved in front of and behind the camera, it's appalling how disastrous this turned out.

1½ minnows swimming upstream out of 5

The Three Stooges (2012)

I grew up as a dedicated Stoogehead, so the recasting was a hard sell for me, but man...this was actually a surprisingly loving effort to try and recreate the feeling of The Three Stooges for the modern era. Will Sasso in particular embodies the spirit of Curly. It's a film that is completely imperfect, but I admire it a lot for what it's trying to do, and the Farrellys were the perfect guys for the job. This kind of slapstick comedy never goes out of style.

3 eye-pokes out of 5

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

A remake of the 1972 film about a shallow man who quickly courts and marries a beautiful woman, then realizes they have nothing in common and falls for another woman on their honeymoon. As always, Ben Stiller excels at playing the hapless sap, but this one has more of a mean streak than other romantic comedies. It's raunchy and offensive, which gets bonus points in my book, but this is not one of the Farrelly brothers' best. The original holds up much better.

2 cures for a jellyfish sting out of 5

Fever Pitch (2005)

AKA: The Perfect Catch

The story of a man obsessed with the Red Sox and his courtship with a woman across a year of baseball games as he tries to conform her to his world. If the Farrellys wanted to show that they could do conventional, middle of the road PG-13 romantic comedies, they certainly proved it here. If you don't have even a passing interest in sports, you'll surely be bored out of your mind, like I was.

A remake of the 1997 UK film of the same name (based on the book by Nick Hornsby), adapted from football (soccer) to baseball for American audiences.

1½ season tickets out of 5

Stuck on You (2003)

Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear play conjoined twins who have been stuck in a rut together for 32 years, and decide they need a new start. They head to Hollywood where one can pursue his acting dreams, while the other courts a romantic relationship, but each remains an obstacle in the other's life. Since the Farrellys are also joined at the hip at this point, they pull a lot of the jokes and camaraderie from their own experience to inform the script. The result is just entertaining enough, but it falls short of the rest of their filmography.

2½ giant teddy bears out of 5

Shallow Hal (2001)

Hal values looks over everything until a chance encounter in an elevator where he becomes hypnotized by a self-help guru who allows him to see others for their inner beauty. The logic falls apart once you realize you can't tell that just by looking at someone either. Also, why is true beauty presented as identical to flawless outer beauty? Once you accept the magical premise, you realize it's a kind of reverse superpower where if fat and ugly people are attractive to you, then it ups your chance of success. There are so many flaws in this high concept, but it's best to just go with it. It's very funny and moving at times. I've always loved this movie up until a certain point and then I don't.

2½ Morton's toes out of 5

Kingpin (1996)

The Farrellys follow up their successful Dumb & Dumber with the bowling comedy Kingpin, about a washed up ex-bowler (Woody Harrelson) who takes on a promising young talent in a naive Amish farmer (Randy Quaid) with the promise of winning a one million dollar tournament and getting his revenge along the way. The Farrellys were the masters at this kind of raucous comedy, once upon a time, balancing nail-biting pathos with side-splitting humor. 

I always saw this movie as a bizarre counterpart to The Big Lebowski. 

3½ ball returns out of 5

Note: It comes in two flavors: PG-13 and R. You know which one to go for.

There's Something About Mary (1998)

Poor lovestruck loser Ted (Ben Stiller) never got over the girl of his dreams after an incident in his youth left him scarred. Years later, he hires a shady investigator to track her down and that's when matters get complicated.

This remains one of my most memorable theater experiences. Full of broad belly laughs, you hardly ever see this type of "swing for the fences" comedy anymore. It's refreshing to visit all these years later because it still has the same effect on me. It's the perfect marriage between gross-out humor and heart that really sticks the landing and cements it as a modern comedy classic.

5 squirts of hair gel out of 5

Me, Myself & Irene (2000)

The Farrelly Brothers' uproarious comedy about a Rhode Island state trooper with "Jekyll & Hyde" split personality disorder is criminally underrated and vulgar to the extreme. I remember watching this in theaters on opening day and people rolling in the aisles and that's what stays with me the most. Good times. Along with Dumb & Dumber, the Farrellys gift us one of Jim Carrey's funniest performances, and the subtle way he's able to "switch" from Charlie to Hank never fails to delight me. Like The Mask, it's extreme wish fulfillment, especially if you have a hair trigger and ever wanted to go off on people.

4 cocks up the ass out of 5

Dear Santa (2024)

A dyslexic kid writes a letter to Satan, and he comes a-calling, tricking the boy into making three wishes in exchange for his soul. I would have thought this was a novel concept had I not seen Letters to Satan Claus a couple of years back which had this exact same premise. With the Farrelly Brothers and Jack Black involved, I was expecting this to be a hard R-rated raunchfest, but it's more like a PG movie that tries so hard not to be offensive that it's actually offensive. Anyway, there are a couple of gags that got me, but this is a far cry from the Farrellys' best work. You're better off watching Krampus instead.

2 "every time a grown man sharts himself, a demon earns its horns" out of 5

Ricky Stanicky (2024)

The Farrelly Brothers tackle R-rated comedy after 13 years and it's a welcome return to form. Three childhood friends invent an alibi called "Ricky Stanicky," who they use as a lifelong excuse to get out of trouble and family obligations. When they are finally caught in the lie 20 years later, they hire a struggling adult entertainer (who sings dirty song parodies) in order to inhabit the role. John Cena always kills it when he goes straight for the comedy and leaves his ego at the door, and William H. Macy always remains a highlight for me. The three friends were mostly forgettable though, and I didn't really care what happened to them, even though that was the very crux of the movie. Ricky Stanicky was too damn likeable and all they kept doing was trying to get rid of him the entire time. Let's face it, we could all use a Ricky Stanicky in our lives.

At the end of the day though, all I'm going to remember are those dirty song parodies. Seriously, that shit made me laugh so hard because I thought I was the only one who turned every lyric into something perverted. "Weird Al Wankovic" was right there the whole time.

3 air-dickers out of 5

DUMB & DUMBER TO [2014]

20 years later, Harry & Lloyd are back in Dumb & Dumber To, the sequel to the Farrelly Brothers' big screen debut.
Continuing the road trip/buddy flick blueprint, the boys head out in search of Harry's long lost daughter and inevitably hijinks ensue.  I'd be lying if I said this was any sort of quality film-making but, like the first, it never tries to be and lives up to it's name.  There's plenty of laughs to be had, insuring the Farrelly's don't lose their crown as the kings of gross-out comedy.   It feels a little outdated at times but if you're a huge fan of the original you'll find plenty to enjoy from this nostalgic trip through stupidity.

3 Pee Stains out of 5

DUMB & DUMBER [1994]

Peter & Bobby Farrelly's big-screen debut, the buddy road movie comedy, Dumb & Dumber, is exactly as the title advertises.
A slapstick, gross-out comedy classic that never tries to hide it's lack of intelligence behind all the gut-wrenchingly funny moments.  Jim Carrey is at the top of his game here but it's Jeff Daniels who surprises going against his usual typecast and never allows Carrey's antics to overshadow his comedy chops.  As gross as the film gets it's never mean-spirited and that's where it earns extra points with its good-natured characters that just don't get it.

3½ pretty birds out of 5

Hall Pass (2011)

A return to form (and comedy) from the Farrelly Brothers after the atrocious effort known as "Fever Pitch." While not an instant classic like some of their earlier efforts, there are still several laugh-out-loud moments, including a scene in a locker room which I'm still not sure how got past the MPAA. As expected with movies of this sort, it is ultimately more sweet than raunchy.

3 car faps out of 5