THE MOVIE

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.

Back in 1995 Jim Carrey was hot property. Having just come off the phenomenal successes of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask this third starring vehicle for the rubber faced man was sure to be a hit, and indeed it was with a worldwide gross of $US247 million cementing Jim Carrey as a superstar.

In what can only be described as the dumbest film of all time, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, star as a pathetic pair of dimwits who embark on a cross-country road trip to return a briefcase full of cash to its rightful owner. For Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, everyday is a no brainer as they baffle cops, kidnappers, truckies and anyone else who is unlucky enough to cross their paths.

The Farrelly Brothers pretty much launched their careers with this movie, and it takes 'stupid' comedy to new levels. While many movies fall so flat the charm of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels works so magically that this movie hits all the right notes on so many occasions. We've all seen jokes with laxatives and toilets, but have you ever seen something as funny as Jeff Daniels on the toilet? How about when their birds head 'falls off' - their response is gold. Leaving the note for the 'gas man'. Finally the frost on the charlift at the snow fields, oh so painful, but hilarious (I wonder how many people tried that after watching this movie!).

Now they are some slick suits!

Holding up up quite well 15 years after release this is a movie which the whole family can enjoy with gags for all ages. If you've never seen this movie we suggest you check it out, if you have seen it you'll more then likely be a fan as we are here.

VIDEO
Video quality of Dumb & Dumber on Blu-Ray isn't quite what one would call reference quality. In fact the video quality varies between nice to poor. Using the VC-1 codec the movie is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is certainly a step up from the quality of the DVD releases which were never great to start with, however it does fall short of the best we've seen on Blu-Ray. Colours appear a little flat at times but worse is the lack of sharpness in many of the sceens. According to the stats on the PS3 the bitrate is quite variable with a range that varies from around 15Mbps to around 30Mbps.

Having said all that, the transfer here is certainly an improvement on the DVD release which wasn't too good to start with. If you're a fan of this movie then you should appreciate teh step up in visual quality over the DVD, just don't expect miracles.

Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber.

AUDIO
There are two audio tracks available on this disc. A Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 640kbps which is very impressive - and certainly a massive improvement over the Dolby Digital 2.0 track which the first Australian DVD release contained - and an even more impressive Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. To be honest this movie was never going to set any shining examples of what the audio formats are capable of with the majority of the movie being dialogue driven with few chances for music or surround sound effects to come into play. Still, what is here is as clear as it has ever sounded

There is only one subtitle track on this disc, English SDH. Brief samples demonstrated accuracy to the dialogue on screen with only some small cuts in order to keep decent pacing.

EXTRAS
All the extras on this disc have been seen on the Ultimate Edition DVD's, however some extras here, including the main featurettes have been upgraded to High Definition video.

Still Dumb After All These Years (18:35): A brief documentary which looks at the trouble in getting this film made, until Jim Carrey became a star and was attached. Quite a few cast and crew are interviewed with the notable omissions being Jim Carrey and the Farrelly brothers.

A Dumb & Dumber classic scene.

Trailers (6:54): Dumb Trailer, Dumber Trailer, Actual Trailer, and Actual TV Spot are presented here in Standard Defintion.

Additional Scenes (33:55): A series of deleted scenes are presented here. Some of these scenes are just as good as those in the final film, however their quality is pretty poor only being encoded in Standard Definition using the VC-1 codec and 192kbps Stereo Sound.

Extras (7:45): Four of the scenes are detailed with interviews with the actors involved (again, except Jim Carrey). The four scenes are; The Toilet Scene, Kung Fu Chef, Big Fire Stunt, and Most Annoying Sound.

OVERALL
As a movie I really enjoy Dumb & Dumber. It's a mindless, entertaining popcorn flick which is suitable for most ages. The transfer to Blu-Ray is unspectacular, but solid and an improvement over the DVD release. Worth adding to your collection if you're a fan of the movie.

Review By: Dave Warner

THE MOVIE	8/10
THE VIDEO	7/10
THE AUDIO	7/10
THE EXTRAS	3/10
OVERALL	7/10