Hollywood humor has gone from lowbrow to no-brow. Modesty and political correctness are out. Bodily functions are in. In fact, gross-out scenes in There’s Something About Mary give families some indication of the lengths to which filmmakers will go days for a laugh … or a retch.The nauseating, R-rated shenanigans in this film don’t just push the envelope, they crumple it up and set it on fire. How low does it go? Brace yourself.
Masturbation humor leads to a scene in which Cameron Diaz mistakes semen for hair gel (we’ll spare you the vulgar details). Another graphic moment involves Ben Stiller getting his genitals caught in the zipper of a prom tux. This tasteless film also fishes for laughs with crass gags about oral and gay sex, vibrators and grotesque acne.
“There are going to be people who are a bit offended by this movie,” says Stiller in what may be the understatement of the year. “Then again, some people will be gratified to see that somebody’s finally putting something up on the screen that is tasteless!”
Gross-out scatological humor aside, Mary callously mines for laughs at the expense of insensitively chosen targets. This meanspirited sniping suggests a PC backlash by comedy writers. The gag gun is loaded and the safety is off. It would appear that anyone—and anything—is now fair game.
