By Robert Scucci
| Published
Most raunchy romantic comedies from the ‘90s fail to hold up because their humor ages out, and people could see the jokes as “problematic” through the lens of today. There’s Something About Mary, while problematic in its own right at first glance, stands the test of time because of how its humor is delivered. The same could be said for most Farrelly Brothers films from this era, like Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin – both of which boasting levels of irreverence that’s offset by equal amounts of sincerity no matter how off-the-wall their premises may be.
Laughter, Tears, And Light Stalking
There’s Something About Mary primarily focuses on Ben Stiller’s Ted Stroehmann, a 29-year-old magazine writer who never got over the disastrous prom night he had in 1985, when Mary Jenson (Cameron Diaz) asked him to the dance, with disastrous results. After experiencing a medical catastrophe in the form of zipping his beans above his frank while getting ready in her bathroom, Ted is hospitalized and humiliated, and loses contact with Mary and her mentally disabled brother, Warren (W. Earl Brown), shortly thereafter.
Having never gotten over his infatuation with Mary, Ted hires a private investigator named Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down after his best friend, Dom “Woogie” Woganowski (Chris Elliott), suggests he locates her so he can see how she’s doing, and hopefully move on with his life.
That Escalated Quickly
At first, Ted believes Pat when he’s told that Mary has multiple children (with multiple male partners), has put on a considerable amount of weight, and isn’t worth his time. The reality, however, is that Pat quickly fell in love with Mary, a beautiful and successful orthopedic surgeon, and wants to use his investigative skills to win her over by lying about his own life in order to appear as the ideal male suitor she’s looking to settle down with.
Matters get even more complicated in There’s Something About Mary when Pat has a run-in with one of Mary’s patients, Tucker (Lee Evans), the handicapped alter-ego of a pizza delivery guy named Norm Phipps who became obsessed with Mary after delivering food to her practice. Tucker, walking around on crutches, speaking in a fake British accent, and posing as an architect, realizes that Pat is lying about everything in order to win Mary over, and won’t go down with a fight.
It doesn’t take long for Ted to take matters into his own hands and track down Mary himself before Pat and Tucker/Norm attempt to sabotage his efforts to reunite with the love of his life, which is actually coming from a genuine place of affection despite his misguided (and probably illegal) efforts to find her in the first place.
An Unrelentingly Hilarious Love Story
There’s Something About Mary relies heavily on shock humor, but beneath what could be perceived as offensive jokes that were solely written for the sake of cheap laughs, everything comes together in the end that makes each and every punchline a necessary part of its storytelling.
For instance, Mary’s developmentally challenged younger brother, Warren, seems like the butt of many cruel jokes in the film’s first act, and his various quirks and idiosyncrasies can at first come off as tasteless to audience members – especially those who know the struggle of living with and caring for somebody who needs constant attention and supervision. By the time There’s Something About Mary reintroduces an adult Warren to Ted, it becomes clear that the latter cares so much about Mary because he’s the only person who knows how to bond with her little brother, and how to approach him in ways that aren’t offputting, but rather incredibly thoughtful.
Offensive Humor Works If It Can Stick The Landing
There are so many sequences in There’s Something About Mary that could have failed to stick the landing if the Farrelly Brothers didn’t have such a finely tuned sense of comedic timing. From inadvertent genital mutilation, a drugged up border terrier mauling Ted in Mary’s Apartment, Chris Elliott’s seemingly innocuous rash breakouts that lead to an unhinged third-act reveal, to the infamous “is that hair gel?” scene involving Ted’s “baby batter,” There’s Something About Mary builds exponentially off of its own inherent ridiculousness before successfully dismounting upon its conclusion, leaving no stone unturned.
So if you’re asking yourself, does There’s Something About Mary still hold up in 2025? The answer is an emphatic “yes,” and you can currently stream the title on Hulu.
