IMDb user comments for
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) More at IMDbPro »

2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
When Over-The-Top is Under-Achieving., 19 October 2005

Author: dunmore_ego from Los Angeles, California

Alllrighty then…

Like a ballistic missile launched from the irreverent camp of "In Living Color" (of which he was the odd-white-man-out alumnus), Jim Carrey's first starring role remains a watershed performance of mega-ultra-outré singularity.

Shadyac's straightforward direction leaves Carrey, as the eponymous hero, the much-needed space to run amok like a force of nature that few comedians before him have commanded (notably, early Jerry Lewis).

The plot of the Pet Detective recovering a kidnapped dolphin mascot is almost irrelevant, as scenery-chewing is taken to oxygen-depleting levels whenever Carrey inhabits more than one-tenth of the screen frame, in a frenetic story that takes Ace from football fields to Southern backwaters, to infiltrating a mental asylum and swimming with sharks.

Sophisticates and art-house elitists whine over Carrey's Method, but his execution is unquestionably adept and engineered for maximum impact. Compared to the exhausted shtick of the Adam Sandlers and Pauly Shores, this is a Bergman Festival. With loud Hawaiian shirts.

(Movie Maniacs, visit: www.poffysmoviemania.com)

Add another comment

Related Links