If you haven’t seen the classic 90’s comedy, Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) and best friend Harry Dunne (Jeff Daniels) share a shabby apartment in Providence, Rhode Island. In the first few minutes of the movie, both of them are fired from their jobs, but not before Lloyd, a limo driver, falls in love with Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly), a woman he drives to the airport. After Lloyd sees that Mary has left one of her briefcases at the airport, he convinces Harry to drive with him all the way to Aspen, Colorado, where Lloyd hopes to return Mary’s briefcase and get her to fall in love with him. Eventually the guys open the briefcase and find millions of dollars inside, which they use to fund their stay in Aspen as they unsuccessfully try to hook Lloyd up with Mary.
Okay, so here's the theory: Lloyd really is in love with Mary. That’s clear from about five minutes into the movie until the end. So who is Harry’s love interest this whole time? Lloyd. Think about it. Lloyd’s motive to drive all the way to Aspen is pretty clear. So what’s in it for Harry? What is he getting out of this 32 hour one-way trip? Other than a ton of quality one-on-one time with the man he loves, I’d say nothing. Lloyd, who needs Harry’s van to get to Aspen, is aware of his friend’s secret love for him and uses it to his advantage.
Harry is not into women.
1. After losing his job, Harry says he regrets spending his whole life savings on turning his van into a dog. Lloyd says, “Chicks love it. It’s a shaggin’ wagon.” Harry is clearly not encouraged by this and doesn’t respond. A few minutes later, Lloyd tries to convince Harry that they should both go to Aspen. He calls it a place where “the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano”. Harry is obviously not persuaded by this at all.
2. Okay, let’s talk about Fraida Felcher. In an iconic (iconically gay) hot tub scene, it’s revealed that she was dating Harry and cheated on him with Lloyd. Is it possible that Harry, being gay, didn’t do all the physical things Fraida wanted him to, so she had sex with nearest guy?
3. Later, Harry asks a masseuse if he can put on her uniform and give her, well, the least sexual message anyone has ever seen. Realistically, he might have just wanted to wear the uniform.
4. At the snow owl benefit in Aspen, Mary’s stepmom tries to set Harry up with Mary, who would obviously be out of his league. But Harry doesn’t seem interested and keeps trying to bring up Lloyd.
5. This is how Harry sits next to Mary on the ski lift when they’re supposedly on a date. Then, when Mary tries to flirt with him, he basically roughs her up.
6. When Harry takes her home, Mary kisses him on the cheek and asks for a second date. Harry agrees, but doesn’t exactly seem enthusiastic about the kiss or the invitation.
7. Another beautiful woman Harry met at a gas station somewhere in the midwest, who turns out to be a federal agent, spots Harry at the hotel in Aspen and says, “Hey, Harry. You never called!” Harry doesn’t act interested. Instead he asks, “What are you doing here?”
Harry is totally in love Lloyd.
8. Harry gets jealous when he realizes why Lloyd wants to go to Aspen.
9. Harry seems to have a soft spot for Lloyd, as he agrees to go to Aspen when Lloyd says, “I’m sick and tired of having nobody.” Let me repeat that this trip has no clear benefit for Harry. Either Harry just really cares about Lloyd’s feelings, or he really wants some alone time with him. Or both.
10. Even when Harry knows better, he goes along with all of Lloyd’s ideas, like when Lloyd decides to put their bill on Sea Bass's tab at the diner.
11. When Lloyd asks Harry to pull over so he can pee, Harry talks Lloyd into just whipping his dick out right there and peeing in a beer bottle.
12. Look how happy Harry is to be on the back of that motorcycle with Lloyd.
13. Near the end, Harry tells Lloyd he stabbed him in the back by having sex with Fraida Felcher. But wait, is Harry mad because Fraida had sex with someone else or because Lloyd had sex with someone else?
14. Harry shows his true love for Lloyd at the end by going into his hotel room with a bulletproof vest and volunteering himself to be shot, all to save Lloyd’s life.
15. Okay, taking a bullet for someone is almost as unselfish as it gets, but there was something in it for Harry here, as he got the satisfaction of hearing Lloyd’s devastation when he thinks Harry’s dead.
16. Harry tries to hide his pleasure when Mary’s husband shows up.
Their friendship is based mostly on Lloyd taking advantage of Harry, and Harry being okay with it because he’s in love with Lloyd.
17. Lloyd is shown taking a taxi home from work. He clearly doesn’t have a car, and therefore can’t get to Aspen without Harry.
18. The guys run out of money in Nebraska. So obviously Lloyd not only needed Harry’s van, but also a second person to split all the costs.
19. Lloyd has a habit of taking advantage of people. He sells their dead bird to a blind kid who lives in their building.
20. Harry tells Lloyd to spend the last of *their* money on the bare essentials. He goes out and buys a paddle ball, some pinwheels, a 40 gallon hat, two cases of beer, and a copy of Rhode Island Slut.
21. Do you think Harry would have sold Lloyd out like this if he accidentally hit someone with a salt shaker?
22. There’s an iconic Dumb & Dumber moment when the guys pass a man and a woman on the street in Aspen. Harry says, “Look at the butt on that.” Lloyd responds with, “Yeah, he must work out.” With this simple response, Lloyd manages to acknowledge that Harry was referring to the man, thereby revealing that he knows about his friend’s sexuality, as well as reinforce his own heterosexuality by desexualizing the fact that the man’s butt is nice.
23. When Lloyd realizes Mary would rather spend time with his gay friend than him, he poisons Harry.
24. At the very end, after Harry has saved his friend’s life, Lloyd finally shows some appreciation. As the guys are walking in the desert after the motorcycle breaks down, a bikini tour bus stops and tells them they need two oil boys. Knowing it would make Harry jealous to see Lloyd rubbing oil on beautiful women all the time, he tells the bus to find two other guys.
All the gay imagery and symbolism might be hints about Harry’s feelings for Lloyd.
25. This phallic imagery is probably pretty self-explanatory. But just in case there’s any question, the first picture is of the penis and testicles that Harry gave a snowman, and the second is of a foot long hot dog he bought for one of his pooches. (He bought a wienerschnitzel for one of the others.)
26. Most of these gay sex allusions probably don’t need an explanation either, but a few do. In the sixth picture, Lloyd is biting a waiter’s crotch in a fantasy fight sequence. Then, in the third to last picture, he’s trying to administer mouth-to-mouth CPR. The bottom two photos both involve male-on-male urine. In one, a Pennsylvania state cop is unknowingly drinking a bottle of Lloyd’s pee (and putting both lips around the bottle like he’s giving a blowjob), while in the other, Lloyd is telling Harry to go ahead and pee while he’s on the back of the bike.
27. Let’s talk about these other gay allusions. In the first picture, Lloyd is telling Mary about the pet store he and Harry were planning to open. Two single male roommates opening a pet store? It’s very similar to two "bachelors" adopting pets together, which, to be fair, is very gay. In the second shot, you have the most fabulous couple on the slopes. Then, if the whole two guys on a motorcycle thing isn’t gay enough for your liking, you’ll be happy to know that “Where I Find My Heaven” was playing during the motorcycle montage.
28. Then there’s all this physical proximity. By the way, is Harry trying to hide an erection in the last picture? Hard to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment