Peter Farrelly mini-bio: A published novelist, Peter Farrelly merged his very particular comic
sensibilities with younger brother Bobby Farrelly and became one of the
premiere auteurs of gross-out comedy. Raised in Cumberland, Rhode Island,
Farrelly received a master's degree in creative writing from Columbia
University. While he and Bobby attempted to break into Hollywood as
screenwriters, Peter also published his first novel, -Outside Providence,
in 1988. The Farrellys managed to sell two Seinfeld episodes and several
screenplays before one, Dumb and Dumber (1994), finally got made.
Peter's directorial debut, Dumb and Dumber showcased not only rising star
Jim Carrey's manic talents, but also the Farrellys' taste for combining
grotesquely-hilarious physical exploits with an affectionate love story --
it became a blockbuster hit. While their Amish bowling comedy Kingpin
(1996) failed to match its predecessor's success, the pair's third effort,
There's Something About Mary (1998) became a critically-lauded sleeper
hit. Described by one critic as "the Wuthering Heights of gross-out
comedy," There's Something About Mary's unabashed political incorrectness
and outrageous bodily humor neatly punctuated the central romance between
Cameron Diaz's bewitching Mary and slightly-obsessive regular guy Ben
Stiller. Along with the New York Film Critics' Best Actress prize, There's
Something About Mary won several MTV Movie Awards -- and spawned numerous
imitators. Taking a step away from their signature tastelessness, Peter
published his second novel, -The Comedy Writer (1998), and the Farrellys
co-scripted and produced Peter's coming-of-age story Outside Providence
(1999) for director Michael Corrente. The Farrellys returned to form when
they resurrected an old script and retooled it into another Jim Carrey
vehicle, Me, Myself & Irene (2000).
Coming off Me, Myself & Irene's mixed reviews for Carrey's shenanigans and
relatively disappointing box office performance, Farrelly and Bobby kept
busy with several projects that all hit the screen in 2001. After serving
as producers on the poorly received incest comedy Say It Isn't So (2001),
the Farrellys snuck into the summer movie season with the intriguing
comedy Osmosis Jones (2001). The first prominent mix of live action and
cartoons since Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), Osmosis Jones found the
ideal outlet for the brothers' signature corporeal humor in a story
involving an intrepid white blood cell's battle to protect his host's
filthy body. Even with Bill Murray and the voices of Chris Rock and
Laurence Fishburne, however, Osmosis Jones bombed. The more hyped Shallow
Hal (2001), featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as the outwardly obese but inwardly
willowy object of Jack Black's affection, failed to bowl over critics with
its combination of message movie sincerity and fat jokes, but the audience
was less put off.
