Dumb and Dumber (1994) is an American comedy directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly in their feature film debut, starring Jim Carrey as Lloyd Christmas and Jeff Daniels as Harry Dunne. The story follows two dim-witted friends from Providence, Rhode Island, who embark on a cross-country journey to Aspen, Colorado, after Lloyd discovers that a woman he has fallen in love with has left a briefcase at the airport. Unaware that the case contains ransom money intended for her kidnapped husband, Lloyd convinces Harry to help him return it. Lauren Holly plays Mary Swanson, while Mike Starr, Karen Duffy and Charles Rocket appear as criminals attempting to recover the money. The film became one of the biggest comedy hits of 1994, earning approximately $247 million worldwide and establishing the Farrelly brothers as major figures in American comedy.
Dumb and Dumber was filmed primarily in Utah and Colorado, with additional footage shot in Rhode Island, where Peter and Bobby Farrelly grew up. Principal photography took place between April and July 1994. Although the story follows Harry and Lloyd from Providence to Aspen, much of the journey was assembled from locations that were nowhere near the fictional route. Salt Lake City provided several streets and buildings representing Providence, while the highways of northeastern Colorado were used for much of the cross-country driving. Even Aspen was largely recreated elsewhere, with Breckenridge in Colorado and Park City in Utah providing the mountain streets and residential neighbourhoods. Most of the interior filming was completed at the former Osmond Studios in Orem, Utah, originally established for the television variety show Donny & Marie.
The film opens in Providence, with establishing shots of the city’s skyline and the enormous blue termite overlooking Interstate 95. Known as the Big Blue Bug, the roadside landmark has stood on top of a pest control company’s building since 1980. However, the opening scene in which Lloyd stops his limousine to ask a woman for directions to Austria was filmed at the intersection of 700 South and 200 West in Salt Lake City. The same intersection appears again when Lloyd drives Mary to the airport, turns around to speak to her and nearly causes an accident. Mary’s supposedly Rhode Island mansion was another Utah location, filmed on the grounds of La Caille, a French restaurant and estate at 9565 South Wasatch Boulevard in Sandy, near Little Cottonwood Canyon. The property’s large house and landscaped grounds were used for Lloyd’s first meeting with Mary, while the restaurant building was later used during his fantasy about their future together. His imaginary romantic reunion and the lavish party that follows were filmed around the restaurant’s entrance and upper floor.
Harry’s introduction as the owner of a dog-grooming business also makes extensive use of Utah locations. His distinctive orange van, known as the Mutt Cutts Shaggin’ Wagon, is covered in artificial fur and fitted with a dog’s head, ears and tail. Harry races through several Salt Lake City streets while transporting dogs to a show, narrowly avoiding traffic and pedestrians along the way. The sequence in which he sends the van flying over a rise in the road was filmed on Technology Way in Orem. The apparent steepness of the road was exaggerated using low camera angles and a ramp. Harry eventually arrives with the dogs at Palmer Court in Salt Lake City, where their owner discovers that the animals are covered in ketchup, mustard and other food. According to the American Humane Society’s production report, the dogs were actually coated with harmless, water-soluble coloured gelatine. For some of the driving shots, the van was placed on a trailer and pulled through the streets, allowing animal trainers to remain out of sight while handling the dogs.
The airport where Lloyd drops off Mary was Salt Lake City International Airport, standing in for Providence. After watching Mary leave her briefcase behind, Lloyd retrieves it and attempts to catch her departing aircraft, crashing his limousine in the process. The airport has since undergone extensive redevelopment, removing much of the original terminal frontage seen in the film. Harry and Lloyd’s apartment building was also filmed in Salt Lake City, at the Smith Apartments, 228 South 300 East. The exterior appears when the two return home after losing their jobs and later when they encounter the criminals searching for the briefcase. The apartment interiors, including the scenes with their dead pet parakeet Petey, were constructed at Osmond Studios. Nearby, the pavement at 279 East 300 South was used for the scene in which Lloyd is robbed by an elderly woman while attempting to buy supplies for Petey.
Once Harry and Lloyd leave Providence in the Shaggin’ Wagon, the film begins moving through Colorado and Utah. Several roadside scenes were filmed around Fort Morgan, on the eastern plains of Colorado, where the open highways and truck stops provided convincing settings for their journey west. The truck stop where they pull over was filmed at the property now known as Reata Travel Stop on Barlow Road. Another location near Weldona, along County Road 5, was used for the scene in which they pick up Joe Mentalino, a criminal who has been following them and offers to pay for a ride. Joe soon regrets his decision when he discovers how difficult his new travelling companions are to tolerate.
One of the road trip’s best-known scenes takes place at the fictional Dante’s Inferno restaurant, where Harry and Lloyd challenge Joe to eat exceptionally hot peppers. The building used for the restaurant was located at 845 West 24th Street in Ogden, Utah, and later became an American Legion post. Joe’s attempts to relieve the burning sensation lead to a disastrous misunderstanding involving his medication. Ogden also provided the convenience store at 3087 Washington Boulevard, where Lloyd attempts to make conversation with two men drinking Big Gulps outside the entrance. Another Utah location was the former Bear Mountain Chalet at 425 South Main Street in Heber City, used as the exterior of the Second Time Is Best Motel. This is where Harry and Lloyd share a heart-shaped bathtub in their honeymoon suite, one of the stranger stops on their journey. The bathroom interior was built at Osmond Studios rather than filmed inside the real motel.
Additional driving sequences were filmed around American Fork Canyon and Provo, Utah. A contemporary report in the Deseret News documented filming on University Avenue in Provo on 6 July 1994, when police escorted a camera truck towing a limousine and another vehicle. The crew travelled between the old county courthouse and the entrance to Provo Canyon, recording moving shots while keeping the vehicles under controlled conditions. Elsewhere in Utah, a former petrol station at 6381 West 2100 South in West Valley City was used for the scene in which Harry accidentally spills fuel while filling the Shaggin’ Wagon. The petrol station has since been demolished.
After Lloyd accidentally drives in the wrong direction and the two lose their van, they continue towards Aspen on a tiny motorbike. Their eventual arrival in the snowy mountain resort was filmed in Breckenridge, Colorado, particularly around the intersection of Ski Hill Road and Main Street. The two arrive freezing cold and barely able to move after their long journey. Breckenridge’s historic shopping streets appear again as they begin searching for Mary, including a scene outside 132 South Main Street where Lloyd mistakenly comments on a man’s appearance. Another memorable sequence, in which Harry and Lloyd try to keep warm beside a burning rubbish bin after arriving in town, was filmed at Meadow Creek Park in nearby Frisco. Park City, Utah, provided additional streets used for the motorbike journey through the fictional Aspen.
The discovery that Mary’s briefcase contains large amounts of money transforms Harry and Lloyd’s visit into an extravagant holiday. They check into the fictional Danbury Hotel, which was filmed at the Stanley Hotel, located at 333 West Wonder View Avenue in Estes Park, Colorado. Built in 1909 by Freelan Oscar Stanley, the hotel is also famous for inspiring Stephen King’s novel The Shining (1977), following the author’s stay there in 1974. The building’s exterior, main staircase and bar feature in Dumb and Dumber, although the guest rooms and other interiors were also recreated in the studio. Lloyd waits for Mary at the hotel’s bar, renamed the Avalanche Bar & Grill, where he notices an old newspaper celebrating the Apollo 11 Moon landing and excitedly announces that man has landed on the Moon. The bar has subsequently been remodelled, but the hotel’s distinctive white exterior remains recognisable. The Stanley was later used as the Overlook Hotel in the 1997 television adaptation of The Shining, although Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film was not shot there.
The skiing scenes were filmed at Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado. Harry takes Mary on a date that includes a ride on a chairlift, where his attempt to impress her goes badly wrong when his tongue becomes stuck to a frozen metal pole. The surrounding ski slopes and mountain scenery were used to represent Aspen, while the residential scenes were filmed farther west in Utah. Mary’s parents’ house was located on Perseverance Court in the Deer Valley area near Park City, and the residence used by Nicholas Andre, the criminal mastermind behind the kidnapping, was filmed in nearby Kamas. The combination of Colorado mountain resorts and Utah residential locations allowed the filmmakers to portray different parts of Aspen without shooting the entire sequence in the actual town.
Towards the end of the film, Harry and Lloyd attend the Snowy Owl Benefit, an extravagant charity event where their attempts to impress wealthy guests result in further embarrassment. The exterior of the venue was filmed at the historic Devereaux Mansion on South Temple in Salt Lake City. The interior, however, was the Grand Hall of the former Union Pacific Railroad Depot at 400 West South Temple, a large railway station completed in 1909. The filmmakers used sections of the hall for the elaborate reception, with the bar positioned beneath the building’s historic railway mural. The depot later became part of The Gateway shopping and entertainment complex. By combining these two buildings, the production created a single venue for the charity event, even though the exterior and interior were filmed at different addresses.
Despite its apparently straightforward road-trip story, Dumb and Dumber used an extensive collection of locations scattered across three principal filming states. Utah supplied far more than incidental scenery, doubling for Providence, roadside America and wealthy Aspen neighbourhoods, while Colorado provided the plains, mountain towns and ski slopes. Several locations have changed significantly since 1994, including the airport, petrol station and various roadside businesses, while places such as the Stanley Hotel, La Caille and Breckenridge’s historic centre remain recognisable. The film’s geography is frequently misleading, but the mixture of real streets, mountain resorts, restaurants and roadside establishments became an important part of the comedy’s enduring familiarity.
The Stanley Hotel
The Stanley Hotel is the inspiration for King’s novel The Shining (1977) and used for The Shining in 1997. The hotel also appears in Dumb and Dumber (1994).