There’s Something About Mary

“There’s Something About Mary” helped launch the modern era of bro-humor comedies (“Hot Tub Time Machine,” “The Hangover,” Seth Rogen’s entire career). In 1998, mining humor from the mentally retarded, catching your scrotum in your zipper and mistaking semen for hair gel was somewhat taboo. Now you see all that and more in the trailer for a Will Farrell flick. But “Mary” deserves credit for shock-humor originality. Cameron Diaz nails her part. And admit it, some scenes are a hoot (franks and beans; the serial killer sequence; Ben Stiller mispronouncing Brett Favre’s name). Plus, the minstrel/soundtrack is prominent and excellent.

 

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

You know how you want to laugh when you hear somebody fart in public, but you know you shouldn’t, so you just smile and grit your teeth until you hear somebody else laugh, and then you let out a torrent of giggles? Well, “Hot Tub Time Machine 2” (2015) is 93 minutes of that. (There’s even a scene where somebody farts. Go figure.) It’s not for the straitlaced. Anyway, the title is the plot, they say “dick” and “fuck” about 375 times, sequel hijinks ensue, and if you harbor any sense of subversion whatsoever, you will occasionally laugh out loud.

Hot Tub Time Machine

With the success of “The Hangover,” a whole new genre of R-rated, male-oriented comedies was unleashed. Fortunately, “Hot Tub Time Machine” (2010) saw “The Hangover” and raised it one better. Why? Great dialogue, a fully formed plot, it doesn’t try to be something it’s not, and it tries to be the best something it is. Trust me, I was there in the 1980s. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a lot of fun. Just ask the time-traveling protagonist, John Cusack. This is the perfect Friday night movie for a gen-Xer. Order a pizza, down some beers and laugh out loud.