Bad taste comedies might get grosser than this but not by much.

Lovers of bodily function jokes will be in seventh heaven: there's a greater variety here than ever put on screen before.

You may giggle while you gag as the yuk quota soars, but the only screamingly funny scenes are those involving a terrier that has to be put out of the way by Mary's suitors.

Hangdog Ben Stiller has had a thing for Cameron Diaz's Mary since she gave him a date at the college prom, an appointment he was unable to fulfil thanks to an accident with his zipper that landed him in hospital for weeks.

Thirteen years later he hires shady private eye Matt Dillon to find her, but the gumshoe and the putz are only two of at least five fighting for Mary's favours by the end.

Far more disgusting than the Farrelly Brothers' previous romps Dumb and Dumber and Kingpin, it's sometimes just as funny as either.

The story, though, mournfully accompanied by a two-man band, just exists to kill time between the comic set-pieces and never stands on its own.