what are we going to do with jim carrey ?
viewers of television’s ” in living color ” know this one-man cartoon from such characters as fire marshall bill .
viewers also know that ” in living color ” is a skit-show and that a little of jim carrey goes a long way .
unfortunately , this fact was forgotten by the makers of the carrey comedy ace ventura : pet detective .
three writers , including carrey , worked on the slapstick story , which sends a self-styled ” pet detective ” on the trail of a stolen dolphin .
the missing mammal belongs to the miami dolphins , who need their mascot for the upcoming superbowl .
for plot porpoises , this story works as well as any three stooges short .
carrey gets to do his ” official ” schtick as he snoops around greater miami .
he leers and sneers , craning his neck to funny effect .
he even does his captain kirk impersonation .
again .
all of this is pretty harmless stuff up until the point that you realize that the writers have absolutely no intention of focusing on anyone * other * than carrey .
( suggested alternate title–jim carrey : will do anything for a laugh . )
export it to france and you may have a hit .
as it stands , ace ventura isn’t even good kid’s stuff .
the profanity count , alone , is too high .
which is ironic , since children are , probably , carrey’s best audience .
the film doesn’t even have the goofball charm of chris elliott’s recent no-brainer cabin boy .
sure , carrey has his moments .
but what can you say about a film whose high-points include watching carrey slink around to the theme from ” mission impossible ? ”
ace ventura has one glaring incongruity .
amid the butt-jokes and double-takes , the script takes great pains to set-up an elaborate and rather funny ” crying game ” gag .
and , for * this * intended audience , that takes ( ahem ) cojones .