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Surprisingly, "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd" is better than you'd think. Not good, but certainly not godawful.

Neither the stars (Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels) nor the writer-directors (the Farrelly brothers) from the orginal have returned, an early tip-off that this isn't going to be along the lines of "The Godfather 2." Still, "Dumb and Dumberer" has two things going for it: Eric Christian Olsen and Derek Richardson, who pull off uncanny impersonations of Carrey and Daniels, respectively. What that means in terms of a movie career, I can't imagine, but within this limited context, they're funny.

That necessary evil known as the plot goes something like this. Harry and Lloyd run into each other (literally, natch) on their first day of high school. They're both assigned to the new Special Needs class, as the principal (Eugene Levy) calls it. It's actually a scam to siphon government education funds so he and the cafeteria lunch lady (Cheri Oteri) can buy a condo in Hawaii.

Compared to teen gross-outs like "American Pie," "Dumb and Dumberer" is rather well-behaved. Yes, there's the obligatory ogled blonde, but she's a smart-girl reporter for the school newspaper. And yes, there's an endless poop joke involving a Hershey bar. But mostly, the movie is a loosely connected series of stupid-is-as-stupid-does gags. And some of them are pretty good. Allowed to recruit fellow Special Needs students, the pair spot a guy in a leg cast (result of a skateboard accident). His eyes brimming with earnest empathy, Lloyd (or is it Harry? . . . er, doesn't matter) proclaims, "One day, they will find a cure."

Another reason I liked "Dumb and Dumberer" is that it's such a welcome contrast to last summer's "Men in Black 2." In that case, Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and company returned and, instead of delivering a decent encore, rubbed their fans' faces in their take-the-money-and-run disinterest.

Sure, "Dumb and Dumberer" is a chance to milk more money from a recognizable name. But in its own dumber and dumberer way, it's an honest and often goofily amusing film.