i feel no hesitation in saying that " there's something about mary " is the best film that i will see all year . 
from the moment the credits started to roll at the end of the picture , there was no doubt in my mind that i had seen a masterpiece that will remain unsurpassed in the remaining months of 1998 . 
it is that good of a film . 
when gene siskel said this about " fargo " only a few months into '96 , i dismissed the notion as ridiculous . 
how could you possibly know that a film is so great that nothing you could possibly see in the future could beat it ? 
but after seeing the farrelly's hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt masterwork , i now know what siskel was talking about . 
once in a ( very great ) while , a film comes along that is so daring , so brilliant and simply so enjoyable that at the end , you just want to stand up and cheer . 
and you know , at that instant , that you have just experienced something very special . 
now for the shocker ; " mary " is the grossest and most disgusting film i have ever viewed ( " pink flamingos " obviously notwithstanding ) . 
the movie is so rude and , i guess , inappropriate in nature that i had a hard time sitting in a theater watching it with my parents ( luckily i had seen it before them , so i could warn the about what they were in for ) . 
forget " blazing saddles " , " animal house " and even the former king of gross-out comedy , " monty python's meaning of life " ; they were all only preludes to the farrelly's assault on the senses . 
in fact , this may even be the funniest film i've ever had the pleasure of seeing ( the only real contender is " monty python and the holy grail " ) , and most certainly the most hilarious to come out all decade . 
but as funny as it is , something also has to be said about the overall sweetness of " mary " ; it has a huge heart . 
you see , the farrelly's are truly gifted filmmakers . 
they don't just present you with a string of dick and fart jokes ( although there are plenty to go around ) . 
they also , very wisely , add an unbelievable amount of charisma to the main characters and actually have them develop as the story progresses . 
it's funny , though . 
if you just look at an outline of the story , it seems kind of contrived and predictable . 
but believe me , it is anything but . 
ben stiller plays ted , a very shy and clumsy teenage geek who lusts after the school babe , mary ( cameron diaz ) . 
after he sticks up for her retarded brother , warren ( w . 
early brown - the cameraman , believe it or not , from " scream " ) , his dreams come true when she invites him to the prom . 
in one of the film's funniest scenes , something goes wrong ( i won't ruin it for those who know nothing about the film ) and ted is unable to face mary ever again . 
jump to the present . 
after years of self-loathing , ted finally hires private detective pat healy ( a suitably slimy matt dillon ) to track her down so he can have one last chance at winning the woman he has loved since high school . 
healy finds that mary is still a full-blown hottie and decides to try and keep her for himself . 
admittingly , the basic story line leaves a little to be desired . 
after all , with a not-really-all-that-funny premise , how can you sustain laughter for nearly two hours ? 
somehow , the farrelly's pull it off . 
the performances here are also right on target . 
as ted , stiller adds just the right amount of clumsy charm to make his character not irritating , as he would normally be , but very lovable . 
and cameron diaz is perfect in her role for obvious reasons , but the actor who really grabs your attention is w . earl brown as mary's brother . 
no other actor has even come close to playing a mentally retarded man with as much natural ease as brown displays here . 
i know he won't be nominated , but this is the guy who should not be counted out when it comes time to hand out the oscar nods in february . 
as good as the actors are , though , it's the directors' movie all the way . 
i guarantee that on almost every other top ten list at the end of the year , you will see the number one space occupied by steven spielberg's wwii epic " saving private ryan " . 
and yes , that is a great film worthy of the recognition it has been getting . 
but which is harder ; making a great war film or having your audience laugh so hard that they can't breath for minutes at a time ? 
i'll let you decide that one for yourself , but this critic is sticking to his guns . 
there is just something about " mary " .