Jeff Daniels Still Has a Scrapbook He Made of '200 Newspapers Panning'Dumb and Dumber: 'The Reviews Were Horrible!'

Mar. 15, 2025

Jeff Daniels on Jan. 14, 2025 and in 1994’s Dumb and Dumber.Photo:Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; New Line Cinema/Getty

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; New Line Cinema/Getty

Jeff Danielshas not forgotten the film critics who trashedDumb and Dumber.

Daniels, 69, sat down withThe Guardianto look back at his 1994 comedy classic withJim Carreyin an interview published Monday, Feb. 3. After recalling a preview showing of the film in Michigan ahead of its release, Daniels revealed that he made a scrapbook featuring hundreds of negative reviews the movie received even as it soared at the box office.

“I was sat next to my parents and when we got to the toilet scene, my father hung his head in his hands and said: ‘No, Jeffrey …’ Meanwhile 5,000 people fell out of their chairs laughing,” Daniels remembered. “The reviews were horrible though! I still have a scrapbook of 200 newspapers panning the movie and wishing it never existed. Then we were the box office No. 1 for six straight weeks. That’s when it hit me that we’d done the impossible.”

Daniels memorably made the move from dramatic roles to comedy withDumb and Dumber, in which he and Carrey, now 63, portray two friends in Rhode Island who take a road trip to Aspen, Colorado after they discover a briefcase full of ransom money they think has mistakenly been left behind.

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber.New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock

New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock

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“I was bored with drama and wanted to explore comedy, but my agents didn’t want me to do the film,” Daniels recalled elsewhere in the piece. “They said: ‘There’s a chance Jim Carrey will wipe you off the screen,’ I said: ‘Maybe – but not if I work with him.’ And that’s what I did. I remember thinking: ‘It’s either going to be such a bad career move I’ll never work again, or it just might be funny.’ "

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber.Mark Fellman/New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock

Mark Fellman/New Line/Kobal/Shutterstock

The movie is considered a classic 1990s comedy and ultimately spawned two further films, including the 2003 prequelWhen Harry Met Lloydand 2014’s sequelDumb and Dumber To, the latter of which saw Daniels and Carrey reprise their roles. ADumb and Dumberanimated television series also ran on ABC in 1995 and 1996.

Daniels previously commented on his worries that the film’s toilet scene could have tarnished his career during a May 2024 interview with USA Today, in which he saidCarrey encouraged him to “go all the way with it.”

“In terms of comedic scenes, that toilet scene will probably outlive us,” Daniels said in that interview. “It will be funny 40 years from now.”

source: people.com