When Jim Carrey Ruled the World
- Thread starter MovieBob
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Do people really think Dumb & Dumber is one of the best comedies of the 90's? I thought it was awful when I was 13 and I didn't think any film was awful when I was 13.
It's Matthew Broderick in The Cable Guy, not Ben Stiller.
And I love that movie, a dark look at pop-culture obsessed superfan weirdos is even more relevant today than it was in the 90s.
And I love that movie, a dark look at pop-culture obsessed superfan weirdos is even more relevant today than it was in the 90s.
There's Something About Mary is probably the first instance of me going 'Why is everybody liking this?!' At the time nobody could shut up about it, hailing it as the greatest comedy masterpiece ever conceived, and I could not give a toss. It was actually on TV a few days ago (to coincide with Dumb and Dumber 2 being released), and boy, age has not done this movie well. The fucking end credits are nauseating, where it's this obviously staged 'Ooh, look how much fun we had making this movie'.
I remember it being a big deal around this time when Carrey became the first actor to get paid $20 million a movie. Immediately, every A-lister's agent was demanding the same.
You forgot some of his major blockbuster movies at the time, all the way up to the turn of the century... though I can't exactly blame you.
I mean, he was a huge sell on The Grinch (2000):
Quality of the film be damned, he was THE huge draw.
Sure, Man on the Moon and The Truman Show were between it (and Me, Myself, and Irene was also in 2000 as mentioned), but his "hot streak" kept going all the way to 2000, since Man on the Moon was highly acclaimed and The Truman Show was still marketed as a comedy (and it partially was) and was a major financial and critical hit.
The Carrey Fever didn't end until after the turn of the century. Even that, afterwards, gave us comedy gold with Bruce Almighty, Yes Man, and a few other surprising turns.
I mean, he was a huge sell on The Grinch (2000):
Quality of the film be damned, he was THE huge draw.
Sure, Man on the Moon and The Truman Show were between it (and Me, Myself, and Irene was also in 2000 as mentioned), but his "hot streak" kept going all the way to 2000, since Man on the Moon was highly acclaimed and The Truman Show was still marketed as a comedy (and it partially was) and was a major financial and critical hit.
The Carrey Fever didn't end until after the turn of the century. Even that, afterwards, gave us comedy gold with Bruce Almighty, Yes Man, and a few other surprising turns.
He didn't retire after his first hit, if that is what you mean, but by the time of "Me, Myself & Irene", he was not the star power that once was (capable of carrying a movie on his own). In fact, I would argue he had lost quite a lot of star power by the time he made "Liar, Liar"...Trishbot said:
That doesn't mean he was out of our lives, though... After all, once great stars of the 80s like Eddie Murphy are still around and kicking...
Pretty incredible stuff. Historians will find it especially so in a few hundred years, Carrey is the closest to a court jester in the 20th century (sorry Mark, you were almost right).
I've always found The Mask to be severely under-rated for, if nothing else, containing a fantastically done subversion:
Also, the dog. Perhaps animals are a key element to a Carrey comedy success. Although I think both The Truman Show and Man on the Moon were fantastic, but I literally grew up as a Kaufman fan....
(My mother once bought a used car from a Jim Carrey. Was a great car, too.)
After falling for Cameron Diaz's 'unattainable' fantastic show-biz blond, Carrey's character meets Amy Yasbeck, the quieter, more realistic reporter who did a story on him as a genuinely nice and worthy guy. Instant telegraph that he'll realize Diaz's character is a dream or not worth it and settle down with the happy 'normal' girl... who sells him out and backstabs him, for pretty believable motivations. I so did not see that coming.
Also, the dog. Perhaps animals are a key element to a Carrey comedy success. Although I think both The Truman Show and Man on the Moon were fantastic, but I literally grew up as a Kaufman fan....
(My mother once bought a used car from a Jim Carrey. Was a great car, too.)
I'm not much of a Jim Carrey fan (or comedy in general for that matter) but even I thought Liar Liar was hilarious.
His more recent performance as Colonel Stars and Stripes in Kick Ass 2 was pretty good even if the movie as a whole wasn't that great. But when said movie failed to do well and I heard that Carrey suddenly took the moral high ground and refused to promote it because of the Sandy Hook shooting, I ended up hating both him and his character for it even though I later learned the movie was among the most pirated that year.
I know I liked it at the time, but it's not something I could ever watch again, no way.P-89 Scorpion said:
Liar, Liar is probably the only Carrey movie from that period I can watch and enjoy these days. Ace and The Mask just don't have enough meat around the slapstick, so to speak.
Well, technically, Ben Stiller is in the movie as a b-story where he's on trial for the murder of his brother (which was poking fun at America's obsession with courtroom dramas like the O.J. trial). As for Bob mistaking Broderick for Stiller, that's kinda understandable since Broderick feels like a forgettable character merely there to drive the plot. But that's just me.Jupiter065 said:
I'll admit, I enjoyed most of those movies growing up in the 90s but they haven't aged well. The only ones that still remain good, to me at least, is The Mask, Liar Liar, and later movies like The Truman Show. As for why he's not longer the top draw, it goes back to the same problems 80s & 90s action movie stars fell victim to - the passing of time and the ever-evolving tastes of moviegoers.
I'm glad that Jim Carrey has branched out into other roles but the day of being the #1 comedic box office draw are sadly over. And trying to recapture the magic with Dumb and Dumber To is not going to happen.
I'm glad that Jim Carrey has branched out into other roles but the day of being the #1 comedic box office draw are sadly over. And trying to recapture the magic with Dumb and Dumber To is not going to happen.
In terms of Jim Carrey movies, I prefer The Mask, Ace Ventura 1 and 2, and Bruce Allmighty. The rest I could take or leave, honestly.