There's Something About Mary

Director: Bobby Farrely, Peter Farrely

1998 / 130min / DCP

Cameron Diaz’s infamous “hair gel” up-do is but one of the innumerable comic peaks in the Farrellys’ surprise smash, which introduced a sweetly romantic sensibility—exemplified by the presence of Jonathan Richman as a starry-eyed balladeer/narrator—to the brand of gleeful lowbrow comedy they’d developed in Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin. Ben Stiller fights to win the heart of Diaz’s title character, but to do so he has to contend with Chris Elliott, Matt Dillon’s gleaming orthodontia, Brett Favre, and some memorable testicular trauma. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll be very careful in the bathroom.