Frank and Beans!

Good morning Consumers. This is Please Consume, The film newsletter that loves movies more than Woody Allen loves stepdaughters.

There’s Something About Mary (1998)

Today let’s talk about a phenomenon, a juggernaut in the world of 90s comedies, a film that dominated the box office for weeks on end, the highest grossing comedy of 1998 and the 4th highest grossing film of its year overall.

It’s a film with a concept that now is unfathomable, but was at the time a very real thing. Today we’re talking about how there really is something about Mary… Cue the music.

Academy Award Winners?

This film is written and directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly: The Farrelly Brothers!

Their first feature, Dumb and Dumber, was a success right out the gate, starring two guys arguably at the height of their fame and ended up grossing $247 million worldwide.

Then came their big follow up, the film they knew would burn up the box office… Kingpin (hold for applause).

Okay, so maybe that one didn’t pan out, even though it starred some pretty massive names including a post Cheers Woody Harrelson and the great Bill Murray!

One for one, the Brothers Farrelly needed a win. And boy did they get it with this one.

The Farrelly’s went on to have plenty of ups and downs in their career. One day they’re up, the next you’re directing The Three Stooges.

But fret not, for the Farrelly’s are both out doing their own thing. Peter is directing poor prestige dramas. I say that but one of them, Green Book, won Best Picture so what do I know (quick aside, if you want a great podcast about Green Book and why it’s offensive check out Black Men Can’t Jump in Hollywood’s episode about it, it’s earnest, angry, and raw and we suggest everyone listens to it).

This year, Bobby released Champions, a comedy starring Woody Harrelson about a man coaching a basketball team of teens with intellectual and developmental disabilities and he actually cast kids with those intellectual and developmental disabilities this time! (legitimately though we love to see progress and commend it).

Casting Multiverses

All movies are small miracles. So much could have gone wrong in the process of making it that sometimes it’s impossible to believe it was ever finished or ever turned out as well as it did.

In the case of There’s Something About Mary, Owen Wilson and Jon Stewart were considered for the Stiller role, and while we love Wilson we don’t think he could pull off the creepy underbelly of Ted, and with Jon Stewart, his run on The Daily Show was god tier work, but the man just isn’t an actor. Think of how the film would have turned out without Stiller!

For the role of Mary, it was supposed to be Courtney Cox, who has built a career out of being a type A perfectionist, something that goes against the off kilter actual perfection of Mary. She just wouldn’t have been right.

And wait until you hear who they originally had in mind for Pat Healy: Cuba Gooding Jr., Bill Murray, or Vince Vaugn! Thank whatever god you pray to THAT never happened. We love Gooding but that would be a poor fit, especially at that point in his career coming off an Oscar win. Vince Vaugn is wonderful but would also be down right annoying in this role and Murray… okay he’d be perfect. But would also most likely eclipse the film.

At the end of the day it’s safe to say they made the right calls. Stiller adds the perfect amount of charm and grossness necessary to play the role of a guy who jacks off right before a date, but also genuinely cares about his romantic interest and the things that matter to her.

Cameron Diaz is equal parts funny and impossibly stunning. To discuss this role is somewhat of a tightrope act as Mary herself is equal parts funny and stunning. What makes this performance so good though is very much in conversation with what Bryan Cranston once said: “An actor, when approaching a comedic scene, can’t for one second think what they are doing is funny.”

She feels so oblivious to what is so ridiculous at all times; there is a reason the jizz in the hair bit is so funny. It's not because jizz in the hair is automatically funny, it's the complete control of tone that Diaz brings to that scene.

Heightening the joke

For today's clip, it could only really be one thing… prom night!

What makes today's clip so funny is how the joke grows. It's a rollercoaster of a scene, always building and building as more people enter the room.

You think the climax of the joke is when you see Stiller’s zipper, but then you get the actual drop, both literally and figuratively.

So enjoy, and for the people with the franks and beans, we are so sorry for making you watch this again.

Today’s Scene