“Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” is a classic in the realm of 90’s goofball comedies. This film springboarded Jim Carrey’s career and started a healthy competition between Carrey and Adam Sandler to create the silliest, most childish character of the 90’s. I don’t believe that we would have characters like Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, of Fletcher Reede without the path paved by Ace Ventura. This film is also the raunchiest of the iconic 90’s comedies as the writers must have realized that tempering the content could help to draw in more teens. Unfortunately, I can’t ever see myself comfortably sharing this film with my own teenagers because of the in-your-face adult content. The critics hated the film because of Carrey’s high-energy, cartoon-like acting but that is the very thing that made everybody else love it. I do find it to be annoying (which makes me worry that I’m becoming that parent whose kids won’t be allowed to watch Spongebob) but as a teen, its slapstick comedy was exactly what we wanted. The supporting cast’s acting is average for what you would expected from a comedy and the plot is rather silly, though the story manages to deliver a few clever surprises. One of the most surprising parts of the film is its lack of animals. I would estimate that animals appear in less than 5% of the film despite the fact that this is a film about pets! That may seem like a bad thing but it is incredible that the crew was able to successfully create a film about animals without the headache of working with animals. Perhaps it works because Ace Ventura’s animalistic amount of energy makes him seem like his own species. The real moral is that a comedy’s plot is inconsequential as long as you have a strong, memorable main character. “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” isn’t a masterpiece but it is etched in history for its impact on 90’s comedy films and strong pop culture presence.
[Pictured: The plasticity of Jim Carrey's face throughout this film is truly admirable]
No comments:
Post a Comment