Dumb and Dumber

Released on December 16, 1994, Dumb and Dumber was Peter Farrelly's feature directorial debut, written with his brother Bobby and Bennett Yellin—the start of the Farrelly brothers' comedy dynasty. Jim Carrey plays Lloyd Christmas, a perpetually broke limo driver, and Jeff Daniels plays Harry Dunne, an equally hapless dog groomer. The two dopey best friends set off across America in Harry's shaggy-dog-shaped grooming van to return a briefcase to Lloyd's crush, Mary Swanson, oblivious to every clue that the situation is hopeless. Carrey's manic physical comedy and signature voice work—coupled with Daniels' deadpan counterpoint—made the film a commercial juggernaut.

The 1994 calendar year became immortalized as the peak of Carrey's early stardom: Ace Ventura in February, The Mask in July, and Dumb and Dumber in December, three hits in a single year that nobody has since replicated. The film's most iconic visual—Lloyd and Harry in their garish orange and powder-blue tuxedos at a black-tie charity gala—became a Halloween costume blueprint for decades. Dumb and Dumber launched the Farrelly brothers into the comedy stratosphere and proved that audiences would embrace broad, absurdist humor on a mainstream scale.