Jim Carrey is a man whose acting skills are disputed by many, but I can’t deny his fantastic predispositions for making good comedies that will entertain you even though you are not a big fan of his kind of humor. A kind of turning point in his career is the shooting of this popular comedy, which gained cult status and launched it into the A list of Hollywood comedians. It is little known that the role of Ace Venture was rejected by Rick Moranis, and the question arises as to where Jim Carrey would be today if he did not get the role in this film.
Ace Ventura is an arrogant, specific, weird, hilarious private detective who specializes in finding missing pets. His daily routine is changed by a somewhat more difficult task when he has to solve the disappearance of the dolphin, which is the mascot of the popular American football team Miami Dolphins. A dolphin named Snowflake was stolen from the pool during the night and Ace must find him before the final game. He sets out in search and, with the help of Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox), slowly unravels the tangle of conspiracy, intrigue and long-awaited revenge.
This quite solid plot is a kind of background for the whole series of Kerry’s comedies, which is based on his unusual ability and talent for making grimaces and comic gags, unnoticed by the famous American comedian Jerry Lewis. However, there are differences between them because Luis presented his comedy in an “innocent” way under the guise of naivety, while Kerry is much crueler, unambiguously passing on his humor to the adult audience, and even the more demanding one.
Kerry’s insane charisma and ability to improvise simply captivates the screen and, instead of his character being subordinated to the script, it is obvious that the opposite situation has occurred, which succeeds surprisingly well. That is why the supporting actors, led by Courtney Cox, did not have much space to swing next to the main character.
The advantage of this comedy is that it is not a series of parody shots, nor is it a high concept comedy of the situation, but, thanks to the solid script that enriches Kerry, we have one rounded comedy of characters, which is not so common in today’s films of this genre. As for humor, not everyone will like it, which is quite understandable and expected. Personally, I think that he is of high quality and that the combination of charming idiocy and charming cynicism in his case is a win-win. I am not a moral great and I can laugh at stereotypical or exploitative humor, but there is none in this film.
People who don’t like Jim Carrey’s humor probably won’t enjoy this film, and I understand that they consider it childish. The more demanding audience may consider his humor as schooly as a bad joke, but I was thrilled by this comedy. This is one of my favorite movies and I’m always happy to watch it.
