How This 90s Comedy Changed The Rom Com Genre Forever
There's Something About Mary was way more important to the rom com genre than you remember.
The ’90s proved to be the peak of romantic comedies.
Studios threw ridiculous amounts of money at them, as the genre established itself as a surefire hit among audiences. Toward the end of the decade, though, the rom com grew stale. It was always the same premise: Star-crossed lovers, who are torn apart by the world, have to find their way back to each other. Oh, and everyone played a riff of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks’ characters.
In 1998, it all changed with the Farrellys’ There’s Something About Mary. Raunchy, messy, and downright hilarious, it transformed the genre, ushering in a new era of original and provocative romantic comedies.
What was ‘There’s Something About Mary’ about?
Since high school, Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller) had eyes only for Mary Jensen (Cameron Diaz). They were meant to go to prom together, but after Ted suffered a gnarly injury to his nether region, they lost touch. Now, as an adult, Ted wants to meet up with Mary again, so after his friend Dom Woganowski (Chris Elliott) encourages him, Ted hires private investigator Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to find Mary.
What happens is Healy develops an infatuation with Mary, lies to Ted about her, and kicks off a roundabout series of comical events. Ted finds out the truth, tracks down Mary himself, and discovers Healy isn’t the only person vying for Mary’s affections. As it turns out, the film’s title isn’t lying at all – since there’s something about Mary that makes everyone fall for her.
R-rated comedies weren’t new, but ‘There’s Something About Mary’ found the right balance
Anyone familiar with the Farrelly brothers’ movies knows they aren’t afraid of gross-out humor. However, they took it up a notch in There’s Something About Mary. The film covers a lot of adult content and features many infamous scenes, such as when Mary uses Ted’s “gel” to style her hair. Needless to say, this isn’t entertainment meant for kids or the whole family.
Yet, unlike an R-rated comedy like American Pie that’s more scene- than narrative-driven, the gags enhance There’s Something About Mary rather than become the center of it. Sure, everyone talks about and remembers the naughty scenes, but it never distracts from the story. At its heart, this is about Ted wanting to reconnect with Mary, believing that he lost out on the opportunity of true love because of one silly zipper accident. It’s still a romantic tale, even if the events in the lead-up to the big finale might turn stomachs and have people doubling over in laughter.
From an industry standpoint, There’s Something About Mary did something else: It opened the door for more higher-budget R-rated rom coms, thanks to its $370 million haul from a $23 million budget. Studio executives saw the potential to step away from the realm of PG-13 and up both the romantic and comedic antes of the genre. Films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, and No Hard Feelings exist and thrived, because There’s Something About Mary confirmed that audiences wanted more than the traditional, safer-than-a-safety-pin romantic comedies.
Its depiction about love is wildly more accurate than other films in the genre
As mentioned earlier, by the mid-’90s, the rom com turned into a predictable affair. The cookie-cutter characters followed the same formula as countless other films before, and there was no surprise about the final outcome. There’s Something About Mary chose a different – bumpier – road. While it was still about Ted and Mary finding each other, it complicated their path by expanding the drama beyond a regular love triangle – or square – here.
Due to Mary’s attractiveness and likable personality, she had a number of potential suitors, which isn’t outrageous to believe entirely possible in the real world. Previous romantic comedies almost reduced their characters to only having two love interests and nothing more. From there, it turned into a case of the person following their heart to choose the right one – which should have never been a shocking revelation for the viewer if they paid attention here.
In There’s Something About Mary, every character is messy. While Ted is the obvious choice as the protagonist of the story, he isn’t flawless either. After all, he hired a P.I. to stalk his high school crush, which could be seen as weird in anyone’s eyes. Other characters like Healy and Tucker (Lee Evans) stand less of a chance than him, because they’re effectively “worse” than Ted, but Mary still has a wide selection of suitors to choose from. Maybe she should have stuck with Brett Favre, who seemed like the least strange of the bunch, but I digress…
The fact ‘There’s Something About Mary 2’ didn’t happen solidified the original’s legacy
Surprisingly, There’s Something About Mary 2 never materialized, which is rare in a time when a studio film does well and there’s a natural potential for more follow-ups. According to Peter Farrelly, there were talks, but everyone decided it best to leave it as is.
“There’s Something About Mary, when it came out they did talk about a sequel – the studio – and honestly we were like, ‘It ended, that’s the thing,’” Farrelly told Comicbook.com, though revealing that he and his brother considered a story that would have explored Mary’s raunchier past, but the studio didn’t bite.
It turned out to be the right move in the end. There’s Something About Mary did what it needed to do at the time: It changed the rom com genre for the better in the ’90s. Most likely, a sequel would have only watered down its influence in the long run, so this is one instance where less is certainly more.
