Since I was very small, I have loved comedy. I have followed many comedians and their work with wonder and fascination. Some are funnier than others; some reach me more than others. Very few comedians make me laugh as much as Jim Carrey. He’s one of those people who you either love or hate. He either gets on your nerves or everything he says or does makes you fall over laughing. He has proven that he’s a wonderful dramatic actor as well in films like The Truman Show and (the AMAZING) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. However, where he really shines is in his earliest films, specifically in 1994. The three films he made in that year, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber, were some of the funniest movies I have ever seen and are just as funny today.
The film that made Jim Carrey a huge star was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. His explosive energy and crazy antics were like a hurricane on screen that a lot of people didn’t know how to handle. This is where the “Love him or hate him” thing comes into play. Either you were quick enough to just about get what he was doing and follow along or you saw him as a certifiable lunatic and switched off. While I can see both points of view, I loved his brand of mad humor. It’s oh so stupid but, like all of Jim Carrey’s characters, he had real heart driving everything he did. Even in Ace Ventura, where you sometimes watch Carrey and think “He’s GOT to be on SOMETHING”, there’s a spark in his eyes that lets you know that this is all in fun and he knows exactly what he’s doing. The fact that Ace Ventura was smart but still over the top goofy was a unique combination that kept you guessing. Kids love it because it’s silly and base humor abounds. Adults love it because it’s just so damn funny.
My all time favorite Jim Carrey movie is The Mask. This movie is in my top 5 favorite movies. It has so much going for it: an amazing script, art design to die for, Jim Carrey being both insane and endearing, and the entire thing is pretty much a love letter to Looney Tunes and the cartoons of the 40’s and 50’s. Stanley Ipkiss, (“a little repressed and a hopeless romantic”) is an everyday nice guy with a hidden goofy side. When he finds a magical mask and puts it on, he becomes “a love-crazy wild man”. The mask brings out your basest desires and fantasies and lets you become them or bring them to life. That concept has always fascinated me and I feel like they barely scratched the surface of the potential stories it could provide. (The ridiculously crappy sequel “Son of the Mask” made in 2005 is not what I had in mind.) The glue that holds this whole movie together is Jim Carrey. The fact that you can see Stanley behind everything the Mask does, and vice versa, makes them both so endearing that you are behind him (them?) the entire way. We get to see the craziness of rubber-man Jim Carrey as the mask, but also the sweetheart side as Stanley Ipkiss. It just works.
To me there is a big difference between stupid dumb humor and smart dumb humor. For example, stupid dumb is movies like Jackass, stupid for stupid’s sake. Smart dumb humor can be summed up perfectly with Dumb and Dumber. I like when you have to understand why something is funny for it to be funny. Besides the airtight script, what makes this movie so enjoyable is the relationship between Lloyd, Carrey’s character, and Harry, played hilariously by Jeff Daniels. Martin Scorsese, after seeing the film, called it the best representation of real friendship he’d ever seen. While it may be impossible to tell who’s Dumb and who’s Dumber, there’s no question that Harry and Lloyd were made for each other. The same thing that makes me love The Mask makes me love Dumb and Dumber; Carrey’s characters have so much heart that you can’t help but love them.
There’s something wonderful about watching someone who genuinely loves what they do. When you watch Jim Carrey, especially in movies like these, it’s a joy to watch that spark in his eyes and that dedicated heart that makes those characters last forever. It seems lately he's been trying to get back to his comedy roots. I say more power to him, and I hope to see some more classics from him in the years to come.
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