Tom Shadyac
Ace Ventura

The international critics called him a cripple! A very bad copy of Jerry Lewis, a half-wit making ridiculous and exaggerated grimaces, do you think I’m overreacting? Find the newspaper clippings from the time! Insults galore about Jim Carrey and his horrendous animal catcher (according to them), the more distracted fans or admirers say that the comparison with Jerry Lewis is unfair... do you say it's really unfair?.. go on YouTube to watch Jerry Lewis's videos and then tell me where you find the injustice in comparing them!! Identical facial expressions! Similar comedic timing, similar character in movements, way of dressing and behaving, there are Jerry Lewis's gags where you’d say "Jim Carrey is just a copycat!" really... the comparison is there... and how!!! But what the critics don’t say is that there are cases where the pupil can offer something more than the master, now I’m not saying Carrey surpassed Lewis in genius but... by repeating his grimaces he became a genius himself, not so much for emulating a character excellently, but especially for the "personalization" Carrey gave to his interpretations. Jim Carrey puts into practice what Fred Astaire said “An artist is inspired by another artist” but this doesn’t necessarily mean copying! Carrey takes Lewis’s expressions, distorts them, emphasizes them, makes them more cartoonish, mixes them with other characters, reinvents Lewis's character excellently, adding his touch! And he creates a unique and brilliant character, "imitate" and "emulate" are different things! Carrey emulates... but in a unique and personal way! So the comparison with Jerry Lewis is all there, but labeling him as a "poorly made imitator" was a mistake the critics shouldn’t have made. Jim Carrey is a genius character, a cartoon man with extraordinary talent, a rubber face that in terms of charisma, style, comic magnetism, has no rivals! Not even his master could twist his face like that, Carrey’s facial ligaments are incredible! So... sometimes something unique is created by referring to someone else. This is genius. Go and explain it to the critics!

Now, let’s put the excellent character of this film aside for a moment.

Ace Ventura is a TERRIBLE film! A trash treasure for fans of the genre, atrocious script, invisible plot, wedding video-like filming, scene microphones constantly appearing on screen, pathetic actors, ugly ugly ugly!!!

The whole thing is saved by this unleashed character who for an hour and a half gives us a series of ingenious ideas all based on his physicality, exaggerated facial expressions reaching cartoon levels, and some amazing physical gags, like the sequence where he mimics a reverse-played film! Entertaining for two hours just by making faces... he does it brilliantly... not even Jerry Lewis did that!!! Here’s the genius! This, however, has been equally penalizing, if you debut in this way... you will always be labeled like that! You can make a masterpiece like “The Truman Show” but to the critics you’ll always be “the one who plays the fool”, Carrey's grimaces have been his fortune but also his limit. (a bit like our Paolo Villaggio, an excellent actor... but who will always be seen as “Fantozzi”) I don’t know if Carrey will ever win an Oscar! His serious performances are increasingly beautiful... and I’m even convincing myself that serious roles suit him more!!! But try explaining that to these intellectual critics (who once criticized Jerry Lewis too and then reassessed him) with hams over their eyes.

There is little left of the film itself... except for the nice soundtrack by Cannibal Corpse (wanted by Carrey himself, a big fan of the band).

For this starring debut, Jim Carrey chose an overly foolish role, but the comedic genius had to be recognized in some way... indeed from "The Mask" onwards... even the nastiest critics had to accept the incredible potential of this amazing character. (the best grimaces in The Mask he did without special effects!!)

Rating for the protagonist: 10

Rating for the film: 1