There’s Something About Mary

This immediately joined my short list of movies that were not only very funny, but broke new ground about what a comedy could be. A few of these are Airplane!, Annie Hall, and Blazing Saddles. It was the breakout point for the careers of Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz. The Farrelly Brothers had had a big hit before with Dumb and Dumber, but this took them to a whole new level. There are at least three scenes that are so hysterically funny I almost hurt myself laughing, especially because I did not see them coming, and they kept getting bigger and bigger. The zipper scene alone would have been worth the price of admission. And everyone remembers the “hair gel” scene, and the payoff of the joke when we cut to Cameron Diaz in the restaurant with the proud little topknot sticking up. I was wondering if it would be as funny on a second viewing. Not to worry. It was.