Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

So for some reason, I have never seen Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. I've heard a lot about it, know the references, the quotable lines from it, but never actually saw all of it in context and never knew what the story was about. Having seen it now, I'm conflicted. The part of me that comes out when I turn off my brain thought this movie was really entertaining, the logical side of me though, wow that was a really dumb flick. Which side won out in the end?

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective follows the titular character (played by Jim Carrey) who is, as the title suggests, a pet detective. Ace has an eccentric personality but he does care about animals and is, decent? at his job which is mainly if someone loses a pet, he's the one to call to find it.

So when the Miami Dolphins lose their mascot, a dolphin named Snowflake, Ace Ventura takes the case.

He is assisted by the publicist of the Miami Dolphins, Monica from Friends (Played by Courtney Cox, and yes the character has a name but I really never picked it up and honestly, it's Courtney Cox, it's not like it was nuanced character).

And the movie is your pretty standard mystery comedy as Ace follows the clues to find the dolphin-napper. It is pretty straight forward and not really anything that crazy beyond the character of Ace Ventura himself.

I've never been much for making videos (though I have thought about it) but if I were going to, I would want to play footage from this movie, but with the soundtrack and atmospheric tone of Nightcrawler or American Psycho because while Jim Carrey was creating a cartoon, in a live action movie I can't help but think that this guy is not just eccentric, he's insane.

In my mind you've got Patrick Bateman, the eccentric Wallstreet executive who is secretly a serial killer. Lou Bloom, the eccentric freelance journalist who is secretly a sociopath, and then you've got Ace Ventura, the eccentric pet detective who, well I don't know what he secretly is but based on this character that might be a rabbit hole I don't want to go down.

But as weird as Carrey plays him to a point where I get a little bit concerned, this is one of those roles Carrey had in the 90s where he just put his all into it and he was at the peak of his comedic prowess.

While I think everyone else was phoning this movie in because they knew it was just a dumb comedy with a ridiculous plot, Carrey just went nuts. This movie almost makes me want to watch the new Netflix documentary about Jim Carrey's portrayal of Andy Kaufman that everyone was pretty much confirmed that Carrey might be insane and then make a new documentary about Jim Carrey getting into this role because it is insane.

The physical comedy Carrey brings is irresistibly funny and while it does not really age well as a comedy, there is something really unique about his performance.

That being said I wouldn't say it's Carrey's best performance by a long shot. It's very rough and almost chaotic and when you get past just how weird it is, you start to realize that it's really not that different than the other performances Carrey gave in that decade and since.

 Jim Carrey's success really came from his ability to do physical comedy, impressions, and just the limits he would go to make people laugh. The funny thing is, you can see all of the great elements of Carrey's performance in other movies with much better, more interesting stories.

His physical comedy and witty quips are better in How The Grinch Stole Christmas, his oddball characters are better in Dumb and Dumber and Bruce Almighty. Ace Ventura is certainly a unique character, but he's not a unique Jim Carrey character. I highly doubt I am going to remember much about the story of Ace Ventura and instead I'll just remember the lines and physical comedy, which I was kind of already tracking before I even saw the movie.

Overall, I honestly think you can skip Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. I think the funny lines and physical comedy that are memorable are enough on their own that you could probably be aware of them without actually seeing the movie and the reality is, the movie isn't that great. It's cheesy, poorly acted by everyone besides Carrey, and just doesn't age well. I mean I had no idea that this movie centered around the a connection with the Miami Dolphins and I'm sad to say it, but in a few years, I doubt new audiences of this movie will know who Dan Marino is.

But those are my quick thoughts on Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. There's really not a lot to say about this movie, plus I need to start writing my review for The Cloverfield Paradox. But what do you think? If you grew up with this movie, what makes it stick for you? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I'm convinced that Ryan Reynolds stole some of his inspiration for Deadpool from Ace Ventura. Ace Ventura is probably similar to what Jimmy Carrey would do if he eer got the role of Deadpool... except more obnoxious. Anyways, here's the new Deadpool trailer. Enjoy!