The Box Office Boo Boo That Tanks Dumb and Dumber To

A single scene can elevate a mediocre film into a great film. By the same token, a single scene can take a mediocre film and taint it to the point that it's all audiences will remember.

At this point, I'm thinking the Farrelly brothers have to still be debating whether or not it would be worth the cost to recall all the prints of DUMB AND DUMBER TO just to excise about thirty seconds -- little more than a cameo, really -- that drew groans from preview audiences.

The cameo in question? A scene featuring June Shannon -- "Mama June" from the now-cancelled TLC series, HERE COMES HONEY BOO BOO. Every time the news cycle seems to forget about the saga of June Shannon's involvement with released child molester Mark McDaniel, some new bit of flotsam floats to the surface. The latest is the claim that McDaniel, accused of molesting Shannon's oldest daughter, is not the father of her third daughter -- but that the man who is the father of her second daughter is also the third daughter's father, Michael Anthony Ford. He has his own reality show moment of fame as well: he's a pedophile who was caught by Chris Hansen's TO CATCH A PREDATOR.

Naturally, Shannon's scene in DUMB AND DUMBER TO was filmed before any of this information had come to light. It's a possibility that the scene might be excised from the DVD release (and this is only conjecture on my part), but it's a moment that casts a pall on any of the antics of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. Because all audiences can think at the moment is that they're momentarily looking at someone who has out-dumbed in real life anything the fictional characters of Harry and Lloyd could ever dream up.