Cameron Diaz Recreates Hair Gel Scene From Something About Mary And Fans Are All About It

There are plenty of Cameron Diaz movies with bad ratings that are still worth watching. Anybody who's been in the industry as long as the stunning star has is, inevitably, going to clock up a number of clunkers, but Diaz's innate charisma tends to carry her through even the least memorable fare. Sadly, the "Bad Teacher" star retired from acting in 2018. In an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, for her "In Goop Health: The Sessions" series, Diaz admitted that she'd been working so hard, doing films back to back, that her personal life kind of fell by the wayside. 

"I just decided that I wanted different things out of my life," she explained simply. Describing walking away as a peaceful feeling, the former actor acknowledged a "lot of people won't understand" why she decided to quit. But, for Diaz, making the space to take care of herself, her husband Benji Madden, and their daughter is more important than being a movie star. Thankfully, she's got plenty of iconic roles fans can revisit, from "Charlie's Angels" to "The Mask." Chief among those is Diaz's star-making turn in "There's Something About Mary," which was released in 1998. 

As W magazine points out, "Mary' marked the beginning of her transition from promising ingenue to burgeoning movie star." Nobody is more keenly aware of that fact than Diaz herself, who recreated the film's most legendary moment to hilarious effect.

Cameron Diaz delighted long-time fans by posting a throwback to one of her most iconic roles. Diaz played the titular character in the Farrelly Brothers' gross-out comedy "There's Something About Mary" and, in one particularly memorable scene (via YouTube), she mistakes a substance on co-star Ben Stiller's ear for hair gel. After using it, Diaz sits with her hair sticking straight up, completely unaware, as Stiller looks on in horror, unable to tell her.

The "Charlie's Angels" star took to Instagram to share a video of her enjoying some of her own Avaline canned wine — the launch of which is part of the real reason Diaz won't return to acting — with her friend, and comedian, Benito Skinner. The two are dressed just like Mary, with gelled-up hair intact. Moments beforehand, Diaz sits happily reminiscing about the movie.

It's worth noting Diaz didn't want to do the scene at first, with co-directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly revealing during an interview with Variety that, on the day of the shoot, she worried the moment could damage her career. In a follow-up email, Diaz clarified, "I trusted Bobby and Peter, obviously, because they are so hilarious, but when we came up with the visual to the joke, it made me realize how right they were."

Stiller, meanwhile, thought the moment was completely unrealistic, telling the New York Times (via Today) he couldn't understand how the character wouldn't feel the substance on his ear.