There's Something About Mary

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There's Something About Mary
Image:There's Something About Mary film poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Produced by	Bobby and Peter Farrelly
Written by	Bobby and Peter Farrelly Ed Decter
Starring	Ben Stiller Cameron Diaz Matt Dillon Chris Elliott Lin Shaye W. Earl Brown Lee Evans Jeffrey Tambor Sarah Silverman Keith David Harland Williams
Cinematography	Mark Irwin
Editing by	Christopher Greenbury
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 15, 1998
Running time	Theatrical cut 119 min. Extended cut 134 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$23 million
Gross revenue	$176,483,808
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

There's Something About Mary is an American film released in 1998, directed by the Farrelly brothers Bobby and Peter. Starring Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz and Matt Dillon, it is a combination of romantic comedy and gross-out film.

This sleeper hit was the third-highest-grossing movie of 1998 in North America—the highest-grossing comedy—and it catapulted Stiller into the limelight. Until Wedding Crashers was released in 2005, There's Something About Mary was the most successful youth-aimed R-rated comedy film at the box office. The movie has made $176 million in the U.S. alone and $369 million worldwide.^[1]

The film was placed 27th in the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (see the 100 Years Series), a list of the 100 funniest movies of the 20th century. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 4th greatest comedy film of all time.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 "Hair Gel" occurrences
4 References
5 External links

Plot

An awkward and shy high-schooler, Ted lands a prom date with his dream girl Mary, just to have it cut short by a painfully humiliating zipper accident. Thirteen years later he's still in love — maybe even obsessed — with her. On the advice of his best friend Don, he hires sleazy private detective Pat Healy to track her down. Healy finds her an orthopaedic surgeon living in Miami but falls in love with the irresistible Mary as well. Healy resorts to lying, cheating and stalking to win Mary but is exposed by Mary's architect friend Tucker. Tucker however turns out to be a fraud himself, who is in love with Mary as well and drives potential rivals away by slander.

Ted (aided by Don) also drives down to Florida and seems to have won Mary's love when an anonymous letter exposes his being less than honest about his link to Healy. While Ted confronts Healy and Tucker, Mary is confronted by Don, who turns out to be Mary's former boyfriend Woogie, who "got weird on her" in high shool. Having found out that Tucker also lied about Mary's former love interest, football player Brett Favre, Ted decides that Mary should be with him, as he was the only one who did not resort to deceit to win Mary. After reuniting Brett and Mary, Ted leaves tearfully but Mary however chases after him, preferring him to Brett. The film concludes with the two engaging in a kiss.

Cast

Cameron Diaz as Mary Jensen/Matthews

An orthopaedic surgeon living in Miami. She is subject to affections of various men through the course of the movie.

Ben Stiller as Ted Stroehmann

Distraught after a disasterous prom date with Mary, Ted has never been able to get with life. After discovering Mary living in Miami, he attempts to win her back.

Matt Dillon as Pat Healy

A private investigator who falls in love with Mary.

Lee Evans as Tucker/Norman Philips

Norman falls in love with Mary after delivering pizza to her. He pretends to be an architect in an attempt to woo Mary.

Chris Elliott as Don Woganowski/Woogie

Ted's best friend and Mary's ex-boyfriend from high school. He still has a fetish for Mary's shoes.

W. Earl Brown as Warren Jensen
Lin Shaye as Magda
Jeffrey Tambor as Sully
Markie Post as Sheila Jensen
Keith David as Charlie Jensen
Sarah Silverman as Brenda
Khandi Alexander as Joanie
Brett Favre as himself

The film also includes cameo appearances by Sarah Silverman, Keith David, and Harland Williams.

"Hair Gel" occurrences

Image:Maryhairgel.jpg

Hair gel scene with Cameron Diaz

The most notorious scene features Stiller's character masturbating and losing track of his semen. Diaz's character notices it clinging to his ear, mistakes it for extra hair gel, and spreads it in her own hair. The "hair gel" scene spread by word of mouth, and later ads for the movie capitalized on its notoriety.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote a scene similar to the "hair gel" scene for Mallrats three years earlier, in which Jay and Silent Bob masturbate while watching Joey Lauren Adams in a dressing room and ejaculate over the wall. However, the scene was heavily re-written after being deemed tasteless by the studio, who said "nobody will ever laugh at cum in the hair". Smith apparently regrets this decision and has since noted that "cum in the hair is gold" (this information is from the Mallrats audio commentary track, where Smith also explicitly states that this is a coincidence, not the result of somebody stealing his jokes). Curiously, both films also use the song "Build Me Up Buttercup" in their film's soundtrack.

The "hair gel" scene was once again spoofed in the TV show Family Guy. In the episode The King is Dead from season 2, Stewie Griffin plays Mary and uses the "hair gel" in his hair, causing it also to stand up.

The "hair gel" scene was also spoofed in a TV Funhouse animated skit on Saturday Night Live. As Bill Clinton was preparing a videotaped message, a gooey substance (in reference to the Lewinsky scandal) fell onto his head. He then rubbed it into his hair, causing it to stand up. Cameron Diaz, star of There's Something About Mary, was hosting Saturday Night Live that evening.

As a promotional giveaway item, branded hair gel sample packets were released. The back of the packet lists instructions on use and inserts several sexual innuendos ("squirt a wad into wet or dry hair," "results will come naturally"). The packet also says, "Hardly any animals were harmed during testing of this product, and those that were hurt were really old."