---
name: "Bobby Farrelly"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/bobby-farrelly"
fi1m_id: "bobby-farrelly"
imdb_id: "nm0125803"
tmdb_id: 7395
wikidata_id: "Q888535"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "17 June 1958"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-23T04:05:35.649685+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Bobby Farrelly

## Identity

Bobby Farrelly

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/bobby-farrelly
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** bobby-farrelly
- **IMDb ID:** nm0125803
- **TMDB ID:** 7395
- **Wikidata ID:** Q888535
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Farrelly, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q888535, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0125803/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/7395

Director and writer. Born 17 June 1958 in Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 17 June 1958, Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA
- **Active:** 1994–present
- **Also known as:** Robert Leo Farrelly, Jr., Bob Farrelly, Danny Byers
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 3: 2 directing, 1 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Charles B. Wessler](https://film.one/person/charles-b-wessler.md), [Peter Farrelly](https://film.one/person/peter-farrelly.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 77 (2), 2000s 55 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Farrelly, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q888535, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0125803/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/7395

## Fi1m on Bobby Farrelly

> Bobby Farrelly gives foolish men enough confidence to keep making trouble, and actors enough room to make them funny. We recommend the better comedies with reservations about repeated jokes and kindness that the writing does not always practise.

In *Dumb and Dumber* (1994), Jim Carrey's Lloyd Christmas turns even a small reaction into an elaborate facial performance. We laughed at his extravagant mugging, then felt slightly foolish: his willingness to work so hard at being ridiculous had won us over. The screenplay by Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly and Bennett Yellin gives Carrey and Jeff Daniels repeated opportunities to fail at ordinary tasks. Their double act makes the trip worthwhile. The bathroom jokes sometimes ask us to keep laughing after the surprise has gone.

That film began Bobby's screenwriting partnership with his brother Peter; *Kingpin* (1996) brought them together as co-directors. In *There's Something About Mary* (1998), their blend of romantic comedy and gross-out jokes depends heavily on Cameron Diaz's ease. She gives Mary a warmth that stops the surrounding male commotion becoming oppressive. The screenplay, credited to Ed Decter, John J. Strauss and the brothers, gives her too little chance to be unreasonable or ridiculous herself. It is a funny film with a lopsided view of who gets to have fun, and it runs too long.

*Shallow Hal* (2001), written with Sean Moynihan, makes the brothers' interest in kindness explicit. Jack Black plays a man hypnotised into seeing people's inner qualities, and his delight in Gwyneth Paltrow's Rosemary is touching because he never treats it as a joke. Paltrow makes each compliment uneasy: Rosemary is waiting for the insult to follow. But the frequent cuts to her prosthetic suit keep encouraging the laughter that the lesson about inner beauty is meant to correct. We believe the brothers mean well; the film keeps giving us reasons to wish they had thought harder.

Their straightforward visual style lets performers carry the outrageous scenes, a sensible choice when the casting is this good. They are less sure about when to stop, a problem already apparent in the recurring jokes of *Dumb and Dumber*. Bobby later made his solo feature directing debut with *Champions* (2023). Start with *There's Something About Mary*, allowing for a romantic comedy whose heroine gets fewer jokes than she deserves.

## Biography

Bobby Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is one of the Farrelly brothers, working frequently with his brother Peter on comedy films. He was born on 17 June 1958 in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Farrelly co-wrote *Dumb and Dumber* (1994), which was directed by his brother. The brothers co-directed and co-wrote *Kingpin* (1996), *There's Something About Mary* (1998), *Me, Myself & Irene* (2000), *Shallow Hal* (2001) and *The Heartbreak Kid* (2007). Farrelly made his solo directorial debut with *Champions* (2023). He has also directed episodes of television series including *Trailer Park Boys* and *Loudermilk*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Shallow Hal* (2001), Fi1m 55, Director, Screenplay, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/shallow-hal.md)
- *There's Something About Mary* (1998), Fi1m 78, Director, Executive Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/theres-something-about-mary.md)

### Wrote (1)

- *Dumb and Dumber* (1994), Fi1m 76, Writer, Co-Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/dumb-and-dumber.md)

## Complete filmography (28)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Driver's Ed* (2025), Director, Executive Producer
- *Dear Santa* (2024), Producer, Director
- *Champions* (2023), Director
- *The Now* (2021), series, Director
- *Lez Bomb* (2018), Executive Producer
- *The Leisure Class* (2015), Producer
- *Dumb and Dumber To* (2014), Director, Writer, Producer
- *The Three Stooges* (2012), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *Hall Pass* (2011), Director, Screenplay, Producer
- *The Lost Son of Havana* (2009), Executive Producer
- *Unhitched* (2008), series, Executive Producer, Director
- *The Heartbreak Kid* (2007), Director, Screenplay
- *The Ringer* (2005), Producer
- *Fever Pitch* (2005), Director
- *Stuck on You* (2003), Director, Producer, Screenplay, Story
- *Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd* (2003), Characters
- *Ozzy & Drix* (2002), series, Executive Producer
- *Shallow Hal* (2001), Director, Screenplay, Producer — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/shallow-hal.md)
- *Osmosis Jones* (2001), Director, Producer
- *Trailer Park Boys* (2001), series, Director
- *Say It Isn't So* (2001), Producer
- *Me, Myself & Irene* (2000), Director, Producer, Screenplay
- *Outside Providence* (1999), Screenplay, Producer
- *There's Something About Mary* (1998), Director, Executive Producer, Screenplay — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/theres-something-about-mary.md)
- *Kingpin* (1996), Director
- *Bushwhacked* (1995), Screenplay, Story
- *Dumb and Dumber* (1994), Co-Producer, Writer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/dumb-and-dumber.md)
- *Sporkinfeesten*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Bobby Farrelly at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of The Farrelly Brothers' Lost Son of Havana.](https://film.one/media/person/85093/gallery-50e3361e29c0.jpg) Bobby Farrelly at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of The Farrelly Brothers' Lost Son of Havana. — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Bobby_Farrelly_at_the_2009_Tribeca_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Bobby_Farrelly_at_the_2009_Tribeca_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Bobby Farrelly at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/85093/gallery-526c35fac33d.jpg) Director Bobby Farrelly at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Bobby Farrelly](https://film.one/media/person/85093/gallery-73fcbfa7bf2c.jpg) Bobby Farrelly — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2.jpg/1280px-Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Bobby Farrelly at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/85093/gallery-3166deaaa359.jpg) Director Bobby Farrelly at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_2_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Bobby Farrelly](https://film.one/media/person/85093/gallery-495d68261a61.jpg) Bobby Farrelly — Image via TMDB
- ![Director Bobby Farrelly at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/85093/gallery-1f3868ffadaa.jpg) Director Bobby Farrelly at 2025 Toronto International Film Festival — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_3.jpg/1280px-Director_Bobby_Farrelly_at_2025_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/bobby-farrelly