Farrelly Brothers Movies, Ranked from Great to ‘Green Book’
While by no means the most beloved of filmmaking siblings, the Farrelly Brothers have certainly made a bunch of things that technically qualify as motion pictures — some better than others. With the release of Bobby Farrelly’s Champions this weekend, we took the opportunity to rank the movies made by the Farrellys, both together and individually, beginning with the dumpster fire that is…
‘Green Book’
A movie about anti-Black racism in the American South told from the perspective of a white character, written by a racist white guy and ultimately pissing off the family of the legendary musician the film purported to honor, who called it a “symphony of lies” — goddamn, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book is a trainwreck, albeit one that somehow crashed directly into the Academy Awards.
‘Shallow Hal’
Shallow Hal is a movie that ultimately preaches against superficiality, while also cramming an ungodly number of terrible fat jokes into its two-hour runtime. It’s the worst thing Gwyneth Paltrow has ever done, and that’s saying a lot.
‘Movie 43’
Peter Farrelly directed three segments of Movie 43, including the one where Hugh Jackman takes Kate Winslet on a date and reveals that he has a scrotum dangling from his neck. Enough said.
‘Dumb and Dumber To’
A belated and wildly disappointing sequel that never comes close to recapturing the magic of the original. It makes the half-assed prequel look good by comparison.
‘The Heartbreak Kid’
While it mostly works as a serviceable comedy, 2007’s The Heartbreak Kid needs to be docked points for the way it mangles its source material, completely missing the point of Elaine May’s 1972 classic about male self-absorption by turning the protagonist’s new bride into an unhinged drug fiend.
‘The Three Stooges’
Even the real Three Stooges couldn’t make a full-length Three Stooges movie work. The addition of Larry David as a nun is… a choice.
‘Hall Pass’
Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis are horny suburban lameos who desperately attempt to cheat on their beautiful wives before their week-long “hall pass” is up. None of these characters even remotely resemble human beings.
‘Me, Myself & Irene’
This mean-spirited Jim Carrey comedy about a schizophrenic state trooper is mostly forgettable, though it was heavily criticized at the time for perpetuating negative myths about mental illness. It also, unfortunately, perpetuated the myth that Smash Mouth songs should be in movies.
‘Stuck on You’
Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins? Okay. But if anything makes this movie notable in hindsight, it’s Meryl Streep’s prolonged cameo as Meryl Streep.
‘Osmosis Jones’
Half live-action gross-out Bill Murray comedy, half animated cop movie featuring the voice of Chris Rock, Osmosis Jones is flawed but undeniably unique.
‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever’
Peter Farrelly’s follow-up to Green Book is a solid yarn, based on a true story, about one dude’s attempts to deliver beer to his buddies who are fighting in the Vietnam War.
‘Fever Pitch’
Reworking Nick Hornby’s novel (about a U.K. football superfan), the charming romantic comedy Fever Pitch, about a Red Sox obsessive and his new girlfriend, stars Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, in the rare screen role in which he doesn’t giggle and look directly at the camera.
Bonus points for ruining Red Sox fans’ moment of breaking an 86-year World Series drought by filming the ending during the actual game:
‘There’s Something About Mary’
When it came out back in 1998, this movie was a legit phenomenon — and while it will never play as well today as it did in a packed theater full of people who had never seen someone slather cum in their hair on the big screen, it’s still an expertly crafted comedy full of idiosyncratic touches, such as the musical narrator played by The Modern Lovers’ Jonathan Richman.
‘Dumb and Dumber’
The movie that launched the Farrellys’ careers is still one of their very best — full of clever jokes, abjectly stupid jokes and arguably the greatest diarrhea scene in motion-picture history.
‘Kingpin’
Kingpin is a genuinely great sports movie that happens to feature some genuinely disgusting gags (“we have a bull”) while being anchored by fantastic performances. Woody Harrelson plays the role of washed-up, one-handed bowler Roy Munson with gut-wrenching pathos, while a pre-total breakdown Randy Quaid is lovably earnest as his Amish protege. And Bill Murray is great as a villainous womanizing shitheel, which is sure to play a tad differently today.
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