There's Something About Mary
| There's Something About Mary | |
|---|---|
| File:There's Something About Mary film poster.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Bobby and Peter Farrelly |
| Written by | Bobby and Peter Farrelly Ed Decter |
| Produced by | Bobby and Peter Farrelly |
| Starring | Ben Stiller Cameron Diaz Matt Dillon Chris Elliott Lin Shaye W. Earl Brown Lee Evans Jeffrey Tambor Sarah Silverman Keith David Harland Williams |
| Cinematography | Mark Irwin |
| Edited by | Christopher Greenbury |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates | July 15, 1998 |
Running time | Theatrical cut 119 min. Extended cut 134 min. |
| Country |  |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $23 million |
| Box office | $176,483,808 |
There's Something About Mary is an American romantic comedy film released in 1998, directed by the Farrelly brothers Bobby and Peter. Starring Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz and Matt Dillon, it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film.
This sleeper hit was the third-highest-grossing movie of 1998 in North America—the highest-grossing comedy—and it catapulted Stiller into the limelight. Until Wedding Crashers was released in 2005, There's Something About Mary was the most successful youth-aimed R-rated comedy film at the box office. The movie has made $176 million in the U.S. alone and $369 million worldwide.[1]
The film was placed 27th in the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (see the 100 Years Series), a list of the 100 funniest movies of the 20th century. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 4th greatest comedy film of all time.
Plot
An awkward and shy high-schooler, Ted lands a prom date with his dream girl Mary, just to have it cut short by a painfully humiliating zipper accident. Thirteen years later he's still in love — maybe even obsessed — with her. On the advice of his best friend Dom, he hires sleazy private detective Pat Healy to track her down. Healy finds that she is an orthopedic surgeon living in Miami but falls in love with the irresistible Mary as well. Healy resorts to lying, cheating, stalking and drugging the dog to win Mary but is exposed by Mary's architect friend Tucker. Tucker, however, turns out to be a fraud himself, who is also in love with Mary and drives potential rivals — including a man named Brett who she almost married — away by slander.
Ted (aided by Dom) drives down to Florida and seems to have won Mary's love when an anonymous letter exposes his being less than honest about his link to Healy. While Ted confronts Healy and Tucker, Mary is confronted by Dom, who turns out to be her former boyfriend Woogie, who "got weird on her" in high school. Having found out that Tucker also lied about Mary's former love interest, football player Brett Favre, Ted decides that Mary should be with Brett, as Brett was the only one who did not resort to deceit to win Mary. After reuniting Brett and Mary, Ted leaves tearfully but Mary however chases after him, preferring him to Brett. The film concludes with the two engaging in a kiss.
Cast
- Cameron Diaz as Mary Jensen/Matthews
- An orthopedic surgeon living in Miami. She is subject to affections of various men through the course of the movie.
- Ben Stiller as Ted Stroehmann
- Distraught after a disasterous prom date with Mary, Ted has never been able to get with life. After discovering Mary living in Miami, he attempts to win her back.
- Matt Dillon as Pat Healy
- A private investigator who falls in love with Mary.
- Lee Evans as Tucker/Norman Philips
- Norman is an Jersey teen who falls in love with Mary after delivering pizza to her. He pretends to be an english architect in an attempt to woo Mary (Ironically, Lee Evans is an English actor in real life and the "fake" accent he uses is his real one.)
- Chris Elliott as Dom Woganowski/Woogie
- Ted's best friend and Mary's ex-boyfriend from high school. He still has a fetish for Mary's shoes and walks away if he sees her.
- W. Earl Brown as Warren Jensen
- Lin Shaye as Magda
- Jeffrey Tambor as Sully
- Markie Post as Sheila Jensen
- Keith David as Charlie Jensen
- Sarah Silverman as Brenda
- Khandi Alexander as Joanie
- Brett Favre as himself
The film also includes cameo appearances by Willie Garson and Harland Williams.
The house used in this movie was damaged in the Miami crane collapse on March 25, 2008 [1]
"Hair Gel" occurrences
The most notorious scene features Stiller's character masturbating and losing track of his semen. Diaz's character notices it clinging to his ear, mistakes it for extra hair gel, and spreads it in her own hair. The "hair gel" scene spread by word of mouth, and later ads for the movie capitalized on its notoriety.
- Filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote a scene similar to the "hair gel" scene for Mallrats three years earlier, in which Jay and Silent Bob masturbate while watching Joey Lauren Adams in a dressing room and ejaculate over the wall. However, the scene was heavily re-written after being deemed tasteless by the studio, who said "nobody will ever laugh at cum in the hair". Smith apparently regrets this decision and has since noted that "cum in the hair is gold" (this information is from the Mallrats audio commentary track, where Smith also explicitly states that this is a coincidence, not the result of somebody stealing his jokes). Curiously, both films also use the song "Build Me Up Buttercup" in their film's soundtrack.
- The "hair gel" scene was spoofed in the TV show Family Guy. In the episode The King is Dead from season 2, Stewie Griffin plays Mary and uses the "hair gel" in his hair, causing it also to stand up.
- The "hair gel" scene was also spoofed in a TV Funhouse animated skit on Saturday Night Live. As Bill Clinton was preparing a videotaped message, a gooey substance (in reference to the Lewinsky scandal) fell onto his head. He then rubbed it into his hair, causing it to stand up. Cameron Diaz, star of There's Something About Mary, was hosting Saturday Night Live that evening.
- As a promotional giveaway item, branded hair gel sample packets were released. The back of the packet lists instructions on use and inserts several sexual innuendos ("squirt a wad into wet or dry hair," "results will come naturally"). The packet also says, "Hardly any animals were harmed during testing of this product, and those that were hurt were really old."
- The "hair gel" scene is in the Steps' musical video "Say You'll Be Mine'
- Spencer's Gifts sold bottles of "There's Something About Mary" Hair Gel.
