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There's Something About Mary
20th Century Fox Film Corporation

There's Something About Mary reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 69 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.6 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for strong comic sexual content and language

Starring Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans, Chris Elliott, Lin Shaye, Jeffrey Tambor, and Markie Post

An outrageous, gross-out romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz as every guy's ideal and Ben Stiller as her hopeless suitor.


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Ed Decter (also story)
John J. Strauss (also story)
Peter Farrelly
Bobby Farrelly
 
DIRECTED BY: Bobby Farrelly
Peter Farrelly
 
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 6, 2001 
Video: June 4, 2002 
Theatrical: July 15, 1998 
RUNNING TIME: 119 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Sensational, sicko fun -- you won't believe your eyes -- and just the thing to shake up the creeping conservatism that is draining the vulgar life out of pop culture.
Read Full Review
100
San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
In the person of Cameron Diaz, Mary is an island of sanity, good-natured humanity and genuine sweetness in an ocean of anarchy. Without her presence, There's Something About Mary would be merely sophomoric and tasteless.
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90
The Onion (A.V. Club) Joe Garden
One of the funniest movies of the year, but you may need to shower afterwards.
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90
Slate David Edelstein
Even when you're able to guess the next calamity, it's still a shock in its ejaculatory intensity. The Farrellys never throw in the towel. Pretentious Sundance independents could learn a lot from such pistols.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Tribune Mark Caro
The day after seeing it, you're less likely to fixate on the flaws than to find yourself experiencing chuckle aftershocks as you recall the most outrageous gags. In these days of mostly forgettable comedies, that sensation has become all too rare. [15 July 1998]
88
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
A gut-busting blast of tasteless tomfoolery.
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88
New York Daily News Dave Kehr
A shocking and hilarious triumph.
80
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Their gross-out humor is basically sweet tempered, for all its tweaking of PC attitudes, and though this film looks slapdash, its script (by the Farrellys, Ed Decter, and John J. Strauss) is surprisingly well put together.
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80
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The Farrellys here show a gift not just for finding humor where others have feared to look but for presenting it in a way that is surprisingly close to irresistible.
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80
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
A romantic comedy that's a hoot in every sense, worth a smidgen of disapproval and a whole lot of helpless laughter...The film works ridiculously well because it never stoops to being mean-spirited or (despite all appearances) authentically inane.
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80
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Their taste is as bad as their timing is exquisite.
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80
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
This one is dumbest. And funniest, as if that matters even a little bit!
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75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
After months and months of comedies that did not make me laugh, here at last is one that did.
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75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
[The film] occasionally had me convulsed with laughter.
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70
Film Threat
The performers all fall effortlessly into their slapstick roles and the troubadour duo -- the film's Greek chorus -- adds a delightfully poetic touch.
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70
Time Richard Corliss
For those who park their sense and sensibility at the 'plex door, there's plenty to enjoy in the performances, the rowdy innocence of the whole thing, the closing sing-along of Build Me Up Buttercup--and the vision of Cameron Diaz in giggly, gangly bloom.
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70
Variety Todd McCarthy
Crudely made, somewhat overlong and larded with plenty of things that don't work, pic stands as proof positive that a comedy can be far from perfect and still hit the bull's-eye if it delivers when it counts in its big scenes.
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67
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
A surprisingly large number of the laughs work, although, understandably, a good number of them also fall flat. You can bet that whenever the story slows down to advance the plot concerning its paper-thin characters, the film takes a noticeable dip.
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63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
There are several scenes in There's Something About Mary that are so absurdly original and outrageous they will leave audiences talking about them for weeks.
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63
San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser
A supremely silly movie, which means that it has moments of boring idiocy mixed with moments of inspired hilarity.
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60
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The laughs are low -- very low -- and the comedy often flags. But two elaborate sequences involving a bad-tempered little ankle-biter are standouts.
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60
Newsweek Kendall Hamilton
If the film has a problem, it's that the Farrelly brothers, co-writers and directors, seem content to bunt for long stretches between home runs.
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60
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Fitfully amusing and ultimately kind of heartwarming in a twisted sort of way
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60
Salon.com Charles Taylor
The type of comedy the Farrellys love requires dizzy, pell-mell pacing. If There's Something About Mary were tightened up by about 20 minutes, it would be much funnier.
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60
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
The gem in this rag pile is Cameron Diaz as Mary: quick, witty, pretty, warm. There is something about Mary. [17 Aug 1998]
50
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
This comedy is as down-and-dirty as you'd expect from the Farrelly team...but more than one sequence manages to be hilarious on its own outrageously crass terms.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The Farrellys may well be the new kingpins of adolescent slob comedy, but There's Something About Mary doesn't approach the witty anarchy of movies like "Animal House," "The Naked Gun," or "Hairspray."
Read Full Review
30
New York Magazine David Denby
The general insensitivity of the atmosphere gets one down after a while. None of these people go together: Friends don't seem like friends, lovers don't seem like lovers. In brief, it's not enough just to have bad taste. You have to have talent, too.
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10
Film.com Peter Brunette
This reprehensible and deeply unfunny film is obviously critic-proof.

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

J. Ryan G. gave it a4:
Filled with moments that you may only laugh at when you hear the laughs of others, TSAM is too long and boring to be considered a true comedy. It may only be considered a way to waste two-plus hours of a useless Saturday afternoon.

Andrew M. gave it a 9:
Poor taste, non-PC and in truth gutter humour...and also one of the funniest films I've ever seen. This is a really great comedy, unique and fresh. Doesn't really hold up to too many repeat viewings, but that's only due to the side-splitting impact the first one delivers. If you can handle a grimace or two, and you're not a prude, get this movie and laugh yourself silly!

Pat C. gave it a 9:
God, it was gross. Awful. But what refreshing new humor! I never laughed so hard at a movie. I even found myself engrossed in the corny plot and laughed at the stuffed dog, a.k.a. action figure. But Sorry Brett, stick to football. The show came to a screeching halt when you showed up. No offense, but you were cold water thrown on people I thought were cartoon characters chasing the unflappable Diaz.

Davorin P. gave it a 10:
Something about Mary is so funny, that I almost felt out of a chair when I saw it the first time -- several times. It didn't get better the second, and the third time, but I didn't mind watching it all over again. Best Farelly bros. movie EVER.

Jack D. gave it a 10:
So funny it's actually physically painful!!

Dagny gave it a 10:
I've been waiting for decades for a movie that would make me laugh as much as "Animal House". Casting and acting were wonderful. Gross out humour but at a high art level. I wish the Farrelly Brothers (and Seinfeld) would start a Comedy Institute to teach the other so-called "comedy" producers the true meaning of what it takes to make people laugh.

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