Film Review: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Director: Tom Shadyac

A 1994 comedy film starring Jim Carrey at the titles Ace Ventura who is a quirky pet detective. Many films that are nominated for awards at the beginning of each year are described as critics films much like The Master and Beasts of the Southern Wild. These films tend to struggle at the box office whereas a film like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is the opposite as critics tend to pan it but the general public love it and it makes a huge amount of money.

Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey)

Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey) is a pet detective who is laughed at but pretty much the entire Miami-Dade Police Department, although mostly for his eccentric nature. At Joe Robbie Stadium, Snowflake the Miami Dolphins team mascot has been kidnapped two weeks before they are due to play in the Super Bowl. Roger Podactor (Troy Evans) and Melissa Robinson (Courtney Cox) are tasked with recovering the Dolphin and bring in Ace to help them locate their prized possession.

Jim Carrey plays a role which he is entirely comfortable with and in some ways was similar to his character in  The Mask which saw him play a loud, outlandish eccentric. Its a role he became known for playing and even typecast. Here he is very funny at times but quite often the jokes are taken too far which detracts from the great laughs that are there. A couple of Ace's catchphrases became hugely influential in popular culture and the success spawned a sequel that was surprisingly poor.

Dan Marino as himself

The story itself is reasonably well written and is much better than the usual plots you get with comedies of this type. It has a few surprises up its sleeve that aren't immediately apparent as the film progresses. Miami Dolphins legends Dan Marino and Don Shula appear in the film although Shula has little more than a cameo. A film known for springing Jim Carrey towards fame look dated but still produces the laughs.

2.5/4 Eccentric and sometimes downright bizarre comedy