Jim Carrey .... Ace Ventura
Courteney Cox .... Melissa Robinson
Sean Young .... Lois Einhorn
Tone Loc .... Emilio
Dan Marino .... Himself
Noble Willingham .... Riddle
Troy Evans .... Roger Podacter
Raynor Scheine .... Woodstock
Udo Kier .... Ronald Camp
Frank Adonis .... Vinnie
Tiny Ron .... Roc
David Margulies .... Doctor
John Capodice .... Aguado
Judy Clayton .... Martha Maxx
Bill Zuckert .... Mr. Finkle
Alice Drummond .... Mrs. Finkle
Rebecca Ferratti .... Sexy Woman
Mark Margolis .... Mr. ShickadanceReview by MTMoura
Ace Ventura, Pet Detective ... ah, the memories this movie brings. You know, I’ve a small confession to make. When I first saw the Ace Ventura trailer at one of the local theaters, I thought "What the hell is this?! I won’t be caught dead seeing this!" And I wasn’t. (Time jump to the period when the first Mask rumors started.) All the buzz surrounding the movie and it’s leading man, stirred my curiosity up to the point were I just had to go to the nearest video store and rent the Ace movie.
So I installed myself comfortably, started the tape, the Morgan Creek logo passed and suddenly there was this (okay, I need to say it) cute guy dressed in a uniform, banging a fragile labeled package in every possible, imaginable way. I admit I was a bit lost for a moment there, but by the time he pulled the small dog from inside his shirt, something clicked in my head, everything made an amazingly comic sense and I knew that Jerry Lewis finally had a worthy successor.
Ace Ventura is just one of those characters that only from time to time spring to cinematic life, possessing an instant appeal to the public. This has nothing to do with the existence or not of a solid plot line, but with the fact that Ace, in his very peculiar way, fulfills the spectators desire for perfection. You instantly know that, no matter how messy things may be around him and how incompetent he may sometimes look, he’ll end up by finding a way to come out a winner. Guys wouldn’t mind being like him and gals, well, lets say that this kind of confidence can indeed be very charming.
Besides all this pseudo-Freudian stuff, Carrey as Ace Ventura, is plain and simply f-u-n-n-y. There are lots of innovative sight gags and some of them are done in such a nonchalant way, that I’m still unable to decide if they were carefully planned to give that impression or a result of Carrey’s on-the-spot improvisation genius.
One of the movie’s best moment is the insane asylum scene "Let’s see that in instant replay", where Carrey first plays the scene in mock slow motion, repeating then everything backwards. The other is a wonderful sequence of hilarious gags (there’s practically no dialogue whatsoever), during which Ace tries to check all the players' rings, in search for the missing stone.
Tom Shadyac’s penchant for visual comedy, made him a suitable director for Carrey. Courtney Cox, even if her character is almost reduced to zero, managed to bring some sweetness to the movie and, now and then, an agreeable change of pace. However, the best counterpart to Carrey’s atomic energy powered Ace is, no question, Sean Young’s character. The sassiness Young gave to Lieutenant Heinhorn, made of her (him?), Ace’s worthy opponent and brought an extra spark to the movie.
Ace Ventura is the most recent pop icon given to us by Hollywoodland and like all the others, has already developed a life of it’s own. So, if years from now I’ll still hear someone, somewhere, yelling at full lungs a mean "Aaaaaallllriiiighty then!!!!", I will not be surprised at all.
