Gary Barber, Peter Bogart, Bob Israel, James G. Robinson
Screenplay:
Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac, Jim Carrey
Cameraman:
Julio Macat
Composer:
Ira Newborn, George David Weiss
Cast:
Jim Carrey (as Ace Ventura), Courteney Cox (as Melissa Robinson), Sean Young (as Lt. Lois Einhorn), Tone Loc (as Emilio (as Tone Loc)), Dan Marino (as...
Runtime:
86 min
MPAA Rating:
PG-13
In Theaters:
February 4, 1994
Distribution:
ACE PRODUCTIONS, MORGAN CREEK.
Production:
Morgan Creek Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures Co.
« He's the best there is! (Actually, he's the only one there is.) »
Ace Ventura, a guy with an outlandish Hawaiian shirt and long side burns, has nothing but bad hair days. Without any of the refinements he has shown in some of his latter films, Jim Carrey, as Ace Ventura, keeps the humor in this one insufferably crude. The first Ace film in hopefully a short series is called ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE. Never has a film been less in need of a sequel than this one, but after making over a hundred million dollars in 1994, there has, regrettably, already been one sequel.
In need of a better script than the one by Jack Bernstein, Carrey, and the director, Tom Shadyac, Carrey struts his stuff without restraint. The director lets Carrey run wild, which in Carrey's case is a dangerous thing to do. Carrey is an undeniable comedic genius but one in need of control. As proof of how good Carrey can be, consider his relatively more restrained performances in LIAR, LIAR and THE MASK.
Typical of the crude bathroom humor in ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE is a scene of Ace bending over and manipulating his rear in a sick form of ventriloquism. The rest of the movie is the same, ad nauseam.
To the extent that the movie has a plot, it involves Ace, loud mouthed, pet detective extraordinaire, in search of a professional football team's dolphin mascot, which was stolen two weeks before the Super Bowl. The team uses Ace to track down the animal.
The script is devoid of ideas, and the movie plays as if it were one long ad lib routine by Carrey. Sean Young, who, since her one excellent part in NO WAY OUT, gives her usual forgettably bad performance, this time as a police detective. She and all of the other actors provide little more than a backdrop for Carrey's showing off. ACE VENTURA has one memorable scene -- the ending credits, which bring blessed relief.
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