''There's Something About Mary'' is a 1998 American
romantic comedy film directed by the
Farrelly brothers, who co-wrote the screenplay with
Ed Decter and
John J. Strauss. The film features
Cameron Diaz as the title character, while
Ben Stiller,
Matt Dillon,
Lee Evans, and
Chris Elliott all play men who are in love with Mary, and vying for her affection.
''There's Something About Mary'' was released theatrically on July 15, 1998, by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its humor and Diaz's performance. The film became a major box office success, grossing over $369 million worldwide against its $23 million budget, becoming the
fourth-highest-grossing film of the year. It is placed 27th in the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
's ''
100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies'', a list of the 100 funniest movies of the 20th century. In 2000, readers of ''
Total Film
''Total Film'' was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and of ...
'' magazine voted ''There's Something About Mary'' the fourth-greatest comedy film of all time.
Diaz won a
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, an
MTV Movie Award for Best Performance, an
American Comedy Award for Best Actress, a
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Actress. Her performance additionally was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film was also nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It won four out of eight
MTV Movie Awards, including
Best Movie.
Plot
In 1985
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...
, 16-year-old high school student Ted Stroehmann is about to go on a prom date with his dream girl, Mary Jensen, when he gets his
scrotum stuck in his zipper. He is hospitalized after managing to painfully unzip it, which causes him to miss their date. Ted subsequently loses contact with her.
Thirteen years later, in 1998, Ted is a magazine writer and still in love with Mary. On the advice of his best friend, Dom Woganowski, Ted hires
private investigator Pat Healy to track her down. Healy discovers that she is an
orthopedic surgeon living in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
with her
intellectually disabled brother Warren. After observing her for a few days, Healy also becomes fixated on her. He returns to Providence and lies to Ted about Mary, telling him she is overweight and has four kids by three different men. Healy quits his job and returns to Miami to pursue her. He resorts to lying and stalking to win Mary over.
Meanwhile, Ted finds out that Healy was lying about Mary and drives to Florida to see her. During the drive, he picks up a
hitchhiker who leaves a dead body in his car. Ted is mistakenly arrested for the murder and bailed out by Dom after the hitchhiker confesses to being the killer. Healy and Mary spend several weeks dating, but she ends their relationship after her British architect friend Tucker slanders Healy with false stories of being a career criminal and suspected
serial killer
A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone:
*
*
*
*
* (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...
. Angered over this, Healy confronts him and discovers Tucker actually is an American pizza delivery boy named Norm Phipps also infatuated with Mary. Years earlier, Norm deliberately injured himself in order to become her patient and get close to her. He pretends to still be disabled to stay close and drive away other possible love interests. When Ted and Mary begin dating again, Healy and Norm team up to drive Ted away.
Mary dumps Ted after she receives an anonymous letter revealing that Ted hired Healy to find her. Ted then angrily confronts Healy and Norm, who deny sending the letter, and Ted leaves in frustration. Dom, who is revealed to be Mary's ex-boyfriend "Woogie", later shows up in her apartment and admits to writing the letter. She previously had a
restraining order against Dom after he became obsessed with her, which started again when Ted found her despite being married with kids.
Norm and Healy, listening outside, intervene and save Mary from Dom. Ted then arrives along with
Brett Favre, an ex-boyfriend Mary dumped after Norm lied about him insulting Warren. Ted declares Favre should be with her since he is the only one not to use deception to win her over. After reuniting Favre with Mary and leaving the other men defeated, a heartbroken Ted leaves in tears, but Mary chases after him, begging him not to leave: Ted insists that he wants Mary to be happy, and Mary says "I'd be happiest with you" before they kiss. Magda’s boyfriend uses a sniper rifle to attempt to shoot Ted for kissing Mary (as he is also infatuated with her) but hits one of the band members instead.
Cast
*
Cameron Diaz as Mary Jensen, an orthopedic surgeon who becomes the obsession of several men. She previously lived in Rhode Island, but was forced to change her last name to "Matthews" and move to Florida to avoid a stalker.
*
Matt Dillon as Pat Healy, a private investigator who becomes obsessed with Mary and quits his job to pursue her.
*
Ben Stiller as Ted Stroehmann, a magazine writer who is still infatuated with Mary after missing his chance with her as a teenager.
*
Lee Evans as Tucker/Norm Phipps, a pizza delivery man who meets Mary while delivering her a pizza and becomes obsessed with her. He adopts the persona of "Tucker", a British architect, and gets his back injured to become one of Mary's patients and get closer to her. Norm hides how his injury has healed.
*
Chris Elliott as Dom "Woogie" Woganowski, Mary's ex-boyfriend who became obsessed with her to the point where she took out a restraining order against him.
*
Lin Shaye as Magda, Mary's neighbor and friend.
*
Jeffrey Tambor as Sully, Healy's friend and contact in Miami.
*
Markie Post as Sheila Jensen, Mary and Warren's mother.
*
W. Earl Brown as Warren Jensen, Mary's intellectually disabled brother who is very protective of his ears.
*
Keith David as Charlie, Mary and Warren's stepfather.
*
Sarah Silverman as Brenda, Mary's sarcastic best friend.
*
Khandi Alexander as Joanie, another of Mary's friends.
*
Richard Tyson as Detective Krevoy.
*
Rob Moran as Detective Stabler.
*
Willie Garson as Dr. Bob "Zit Face", Ted's chiropractor and friend from high school.
*
Harland Williams as The Hitchhiker, an escaped mental patient and murderer (uncredited).
*
Brett Favre as himself, Mary's ex-boyfriend whom she broke up with after Tucker lied to her about him.
*
Steve Sweeney as Police Officer.
*
Jonathan Richman as Jonathan, the singing narrator and a guitarist who always appears with Tommy.
* Tommy Larkins as Tommy, a drummer who always appears with Jonathan.
*
Lenny Clarke as Fireman.
*
Richard Jenkins
Richard Dale Jenkins (born May 4, 1947) is an American actor. He is well known for his portrayal of deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher on the HBO funeral drama series ''Six Feet Under (TV series), Six Feet Under'' (2001–2005). He began his c ...
as Psychiatrist (uncredited).
Production
''There's Something About Mary'' was directed by
Peter and
Bobby Farrelly
Robert Farrelly (born June 17, 1958) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is one of the Farrelly brothers, alongside his brother Peter, who together are known for directing and producing successful box-office comedy films ...
, who had previously made ''
Dumb and Dumber'' in 1994 and ''
Kingpin'' in 1996.
According to Bobby, the scene where Ted accidentally gets his scrotum stuck in his pants fly was inspired by a real incident, when their sister was listening to some records with some
eighth grade students in the basement of their house: "One of the kids went up
o the bathroomand he zipped himself up. He was in there for a long time. My dad, who was a doctor, actually had to go in and say, 'Hey, kid. You alright?'"
Most of the film was shot in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. The Big Pink Restaurant is where Healy meets with Sully, and the Miami-Dade Cultural Center is the location for the architecture exhibit Mary and Healy attend together. The hair gel scene was filmed at the Cardozo Hotel, while Churchill's Pub was used as a
strip club
A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...
for a scene with Healy.
The makeup effects were the handiwork of makeup effects designer
Tony Gardner.
Besides
Ben Stiller, actors
Owen Wilson and
Jon Stewart were considered potential candidates for the role of Ted Stroehmann.
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...
was considered for the role of Pat Healy, but the
Farrelly brothers thought he was too old for it.
Vince Vaughn and
Cuba Gooding Jr. were also considered for the role of Pat Healy. Because the Farrelly brothers were fans of the
New England Patriots, they originally wanted to cast quarterback
Drew Bledsoe as Mary's football-playing boyfriend, but he could not do it due to a
mosh incident he had in a club. The Farrelly brothers later offered the role to
Steve Young, but he turned it down due to the film's coarse nature. Ultimately, the role was given to
Brett Favre.
Chris Farley was considered for the role of Mary's brother Warren, however, his health was in a rapid decline due to his drug addictions and he was forced to turn down the role. He died in December 1997 in the middle of the film's production.
Release
''There's Something About Mary'' was released on
VHS and
DVD on August 3, 1999. Four years later, a new two-disc Collector's Edition DVD release premiered on July 1, 2003. On May 5, 2009, the film was officially released on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
.
Reception
Box office
Upon its release, ''There's Something About Mary'' ranked in fourth place behind ''
Armageddon'', ''
Lethal Weapon 4'' and ''
The Mask of Zorro'', collecting $13.7 million during its opening weekend, for a total of $17.8 million from its first five days. During
Labor Day
Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
weekend, the film reached the number one spot, making $10.9 million and beating ''
Blade
A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...
''. ''There's Something About Mary'' was 1998's third-highest-grossing film in North America as well as the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year globally. The film made $369million worldwide on a budget of $23million, with $176million coming from the U.S. and Canada.
It was released in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
on September 25, 1998, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reported that 84% of 88 critics reviews were positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's consensus reads: "''There's Something About Mary'' proves that unrelentingly, unabashedly
puerile humor doesn't necessarily come at the expense of a film's heart."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gives the film a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
gave it three out of four stars, stating, "What a blessed relief is laughter. It flies in the face of manners, values, political correctness, and decorum. It exposes us for what we are, the only animal with a sense of humor."
Gene Siskel ranked the film number 9 on his 10 Best films of 1998 (the final "best of" list before his death).
Accolades
The film is recognized by
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
in these lists:
* 2000:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – #27
* 2002:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated
* 2007:
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
* 2008:
AFI's 10 Top 10
AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various actors ...
– Nominated Romantic Comedy Film
Soundtrack
# "There's Something About Mary" (
Jonathan Richman) – 1:47
# "How to Survive a Broken Heart" (
Ben Lee) – 2:47
# "
Every Day Should Be a Holiday" (
The Dandy Warhols) – 4:02
# "Everything Shines" (
The Push Stars) – 2:27
# "
This Is the Day" (
Ivy) – 3:33
# "
Is She Really Going Out with Him?" (
Joe Jackson) – 3:36
# "True Love Is Not Nice" (Jonathan Richman) – 2:13
# "
History Repeating" (
The Propellerheads feat.
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...
) – 4:04
# "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You" (
The Lemonheads) – 2:51
# "
Mary's Prayer" (
Danny Wilson) – 3:54
# "Margo's Waltz" (
Lloyd Cole) – 4:01
# "Speed Queen" (Zuba) – 3:44
# "Let Her Go Into the Darkness" (Jonathan Richman) – 1:19
# "
Build Me Up Buttercup" (
The Foundations) – 2:59
References
External links
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{{Authority control
1990s English-language films
1990s sex comedy films
1998 romantic comedy films
1998 films
20th Century Fox films
American romantic comedy films
American sex comedy films
American slapstick comedy films
Films about stalking
Films directed by the Farrelly brothers
Films set in 1985
Films set in 1998
Films set in Florida
Films set in Miami
Films set in Rhode Island
Films shot in Miami
Films shot in Rhode Island
Films with screenplays by the Farrelly brothers
1990s American films
English-language sex comedy films
English-language romantic comedy films
Teen Choice Award winning films