If ever a movie lived down to its title, it's "Dumb & Dumber." But this film might just as well have been called "Crude & Cruder."

If you have seen the commercials, you know that Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are teamed as a pair of low-IQ nitwits whose antics are childish and silly in the extreme. Here's a tip - the film's best moments are in those commercials.But what the ads don't show you is that Carrey and Daniels' antics are also incredibly vulgar.

Please forgive me for getting too specific in the following paragraph - my intention is not to make you ill, but to inform you of just how disgusting it gets.

This is a movie that expects its big laughs to come from diarrhea, frozen snot, flatulence and urine . . . lots of urine. There's urine in the background, as a wino faces a wall; there's urine in beer bottles, imbibed by a foolish highway patrolman; there's urine during a motorbike ride, just because they don't want to stop for a few moments . . . well, you get the idea. But the film's worst moment - and there are many in the "worst" competition here - comes when Carrey pours a laxative in Daniels' drink and a few moments later, Daniels drops his pants in a bathroom, sits on a commode and makes noise for what seems like forever.

This virtually laughless movie makes rude junior high school pranks seem positively sophisticated.

The paper-thin storyline has Carrey as a Rhode Island limo driver who takes passenger Lauren Holly (TV's "Picket Fences," "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story") to the airport, where she is to catch a plane for Aspen. When he notices that she has left her briefcase in the terminal, Carrey grabs it and races after her, unaware that it's filled with money she has left as ransom for a kidnapping.

When he can't find her, Carrey and best buddy Daniels hop into Daniels' car - which is fitted to look like a huge sheepdog - and head for Aspen to return the briefcase. Meanwhile, the thugs who were supposed to pick up the money are in hot pursuit.

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Carrey and Daniels are obviously up for the idiocy here, though what Daniels thought this might do for his career is anyone's guess. But what "Dumb & Dumber" proves more than anything else is that Carrey needs a more structured screenplay and a more disciplined director. "Dumb & Dumber" is in "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" territory - wild, crazy, stupid and sleazy. With his bowl haircut and chipped tooth, Carrey is apparently supposed to be funny even when he's not mugging . . . which is seldom. But if you expect something on the order of "The Mask," which was strong on story and gave us Carrey's madness in smaller doses, you will be greatly disappointed. (Teri Garr is also in the cast, though she has nothing to do. Did she owe someone a favor?)

Salt Lake City and environs doubled for many of the Eastern locations and Park City subbed for some of the Aspen shots. (Though for some reason, the Colorado Film Commission gets a credit at the end of the film, while the Utah Film Commission does not.)

But trust me, it's not reason enough to sit through this turkey . . . even if your best friend's house can be glimpsed in the background.

"Dumb & Dumber" is rated PG-13, though it is certainly in R-rated territory with its abundance of vulgar gags, as well as violence, profanity and some partial nudity.

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