History Film / TheresSomethingAboutMary

Among the supporting players are Creator/KeithDavid as Mary's stepdad and a young Creator/SarahSilverman as one of Mary's friends in Florida.

But [[TitleDrop there's something about Mary]] that they don't know..."\\
- '''Music/JonathanRichman''' ''

''There's Something About Mary'' is a 1998 romantic comedy film, directed by the Farrelly Brothers and starring Creator/CameronDiaz, Creator/MattDillon and Creator/BenStiller. Awkward and shy high-schooler Ted (Ben Stiller) lands a Prom date with his dream girl Mary (Cameron Diaz), only to have it cut short by a [[VulgarHumor painfully humiliating zipper accident]].

Thirteen years later, Ted is still in love - [[StalkingIsLove maybe even obsessed]] - with her. On the advice of his best friend Dom (Creator/ChrisElliott), he hires sleazy private detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down. Healy finds that she is an orthopedic surgeon living in Miami but falls in love with the irresistible Mary as well. As the film progresses, Ted and Pat compete for her affections as the roster of other suitors rapidly snowballs.

* SorryILeftTheBGMOn: Crossed with GreekChorus and a ThemeTuneCameo.

* RewatchBonus: The movie drops a lot of subtle hints about everyone's real agenda that doesn't get picked up until the second time around. Regarding the identity of "Brett", you can catch a few early clues, with one friend calling him "Pack Man" (although most will audibly interpret it as "Pac-Man" the first time before they know The Reveal) and Mary also talking about how he lived "up north." With Dom, him mentioning Ted's zipper incident — even though he wasn't there and Ted never told him about it — is a big tip-off about his hidden agenda that's usually regarded as a random HandWave the first time. He also ducks out of Mary's sight at the hotel, with good reason as we find out later.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: As Dom walks out of Ted's hotel room, he notices Mary walking into the lobby and ducks out of sight. Why would he do this unless they had some history together?]]

* INeverToldYouMyName: Ted is confused on how Dom knows about the zipper incident, since he never told him. Dom does a HandWave to this by saying he [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial only lived four towns away.]] This seems like a minor throwaway moment, but comes back later [[spoiler: when Dom is revealed to be "Woogie", Mary's high school boyfriend prior to meeting Ted, which also shows how he knew about said incident.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Pat Healy - he's a total sleazebag and will say anything to get in Mary's pants, but he actually grows to love and care for her. In fact, he thinks he's doing her a favor by stealing her from Ted, who [[{{Hypocrite}} he views as a creepy stalker]].

%%* RefugeInAudacity: The dog fight.

%%* SheCleansUpNicely

%%* StatuesqueStunner: Mary Jensen.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The whole reason for Ted, er, [[UnusualEuphemism flogging the dolphin]] is so he won't have a RagingStiffie on his date. The problem is, in reality it only takes about 15-20 minutes after orgasm until most men can get it up again so it wouldn't work unless it was a really short date. That said, orgasms ''do'' relieve stress pretty well which would probably be useful.
** Averted, given that [[spoiler:the advice came from his friend Dom, who it is later revealed was deliberately trying to sabotage him.]]

* NeverLiveItDown: InUniverse. Implied by Dom when he mentions that he knew about Ted's zipper incident because he was "only" four towns away.

* HelloNurse: Mary has this effect on all guys in universe. As the title says, there's something about Mary that drives men crazy: Ted hires Healy to find her, Healy quits his job and moves to Miami for her, Norm creates a fake identity to get close to her and Woogie gets seriously stalkerish around her. Even the old guy who sleeps with Magda was only doing it to get close to Mary.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: after undergoing massive amounts of humiliation and pain, Ted gets to be with Mary after all.]]

* KafkaKomedy: So very much. Ted is a nice enough guy who has his prom ruined in a painful and humiliating way, subsequently gets a bit [[StalkerWithACrush obsessed with Mary]], and has to go through all kind of other shit before the movie is done.
* TheLadette: Part of Mary's [[MarySue Sueification]] is her combining a love of playing/watching sports and beer with otherwise perfect femininity.

* StatuesqueStunner: Mary Jensen.

* ShownTheirWork: Though Warren is played for laughs he's a very accurate portrayal of an individual with mild mental retardation with autistic-like tendencies. He's often in his own little world, self-stimulates, has his routines and possessions which he holds dear, and is tactile defensive (does not like to be touched in certain areas). He is also functional and capable of establishing relationships and trust. Most indicated by the very subtle moment at the end where he allows Ted to touch his ears without going off. It is a Farrelly Brothers movie and they do a lot of work with individuals with disabilities and as a result always show such indiduals accurately and in a positive manner. This was also clearly demonstrated during the scene where Mary brings lunch to the other individuals from Warren's group.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: The film does the male version with Chris Elliot's character, since he erupts into grotesque boils when he finally confronts the eponymous Mary. However, as befits the usual gendering of this trope, Chris Elliot's character already has an attractive, entirely subservient wife who does things like spontaneously bake him cookies and give him blowjobs while he watches football. ("Keep your head down, honey!")

Thirteen years later, Ted is still in love - [[StalkingIsLove maybe even obsessed]] - with her. On the advice of his best friend Dom (Chris Elliott), he hires sleazy private detective Pat Healy (Matt Dillon) to track her down. Healy finds that she is an orthopedic surgeon living in Miami but falls in love with the irresistible Mary as well. As the film progresses, Ted and Pat compete for her affections as the roster of other suitors rapidly snowballs.

* UnwantedHarem: {{Deconstructed}}. No, it's not cool being the object of so much affection.

* FootFetish: Woogie has a pretty nasty one. Mary mentions repeatedly that he constantly stole footwear from her (and so she decided to dump him) up until the reveal happens and he spends the whole scene afterwards cradling a bunch of Mary's shoes that he forcefully took from her.