It’s no secret that I’m a huge Jim Carrey fan. His brand of humor is totally up my alley. I originally started watching him on In Living Color, the FOX sketch show similar to SNL. 1994 was his breakout year though with The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and my favorite of his films from that year Ace Ventura Pet Detective. One of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. 

Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey) is a Pet detective in Miami, Florida. He takes every case involving kidnapped dogs, and missing birds but with the Super Bowl in two weeks he lands the case of his life. Snowflake, the Miami Dolphins mascot was stolen. With the help of Melissa Robinson (Courtney Cox), he tries to track down the missing bottlenose dolphin. 

As a fan of the New England Patriots, I’ve always loved the tie this movie has to the Miami Dolphins and their star quarterback Dan Marino. The whole Ray Finkrl thing and missing the game-winning kick in the Super Bowl. He even went to Stetson University, the school in the town I live in currently.  The ties to Florida are very prevalent in the film. In a way, it’s a sports movie as well. I’m sure huge Dolphins fans love it but it’s a little bittersweet because they haven’t won a Super Bowl in the Dan Marino era, or since the 70s.

Jim Carrey was known as a comedian who did impressions. His impressions of Henry Fonda, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood are legendary. He’s also great at creating original characters like Ace Ventura Pet Detective. His characters in Living Color were hilarious, to say the least. As Ace, he has some of the best catchphrases ever though, and still to this day I regularly use quotes such as “Like a Glove, Alrighty Then, Looser, Reeeally and Do not Go in There” in my everyday life. Those are just a few of the popular lines that have transcended the lexicon of pop culture though.

Tom Shadyac and Jim Carrey have teamed up on more than one occasion. They have made Liar Liar 1997, and Bruce Almighty 2003 but arguably their best collaboration was the first time they worked together, Ace Ventura Pet Detective. They have a shorthand where Shadyac allows Carrey to just do his thing. His thing is acting weird, wacky, and crazy, which is what he’s so great at during his storied career. 

Besides Jim Carrey in the lead role and Courtney Cox as his love interest, the film has a couple of good supporting performances from people you wouldn’t expect namely. Tone Loc the musician known for “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina” as his friend Emilio in the Miami PD and usually a dramatic actress but Sean Young is known for Blade Runner and Terms of Endearment as L. Lois Einhorn. She is straight as an arrow in this role but she is the perfect foil for Carrey’s Ace Ventura.  She was a character before her time but a pretty good villain to the straight-laced Ventura. She hadn’t done much since but I loved her in this role. Add in Dan Marino as Himself and you have a great cast. 

Ace Ventura’s Pet Detective remains one of my favorite films and one of the funniest films I’ve ever seen. Jim Carrey just knew how to make me and many other people laugh out loud at his hilarity and hijinks. This was just one of the three great films he was in in 1994 and arguably this was one of if not the greatest single year in any actor’s history. He broke on the scene big time in 94 and never looked back. I just wish Carrey would come back and reprise this iconic role once again. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the sequel Ave Ventura When Nature Calls so a third installment would bring this character and great actor/comedian’s career full circle.

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen