DVD Review: Ace Ventura Deluxe Double Feature

By Adnan Tezer Sep 29, 2006, 15:03 GMT

Allllll righty then. Let\'s get to it. As Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Jim Carrey instantly soared to stardom while tearing decorum to pieces. The award-winning actor plays the screwloose sleuth determined to sniff out the Miami Dolphins\' missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino. Jim Carrey returns in Ace Ventura When Nature Calls as the alligator-wrasslin,\' elephant-calling, monkeyshining, loogie-launching, burning coals-crossing, disguise-mastering pet detective. Includes a bonus DVD with specially selected ...more

Warner Brothers has released a 3 disc Ace Ventura Box Set containing the two Ace Ventura movies, Pet Detective and When Nature Calls, as well as three episodes from the animated Ace Ventura series.

Disc one contains the original Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, released in 1994, which came out of nowhere to be a surprise hit. It was unlike any comedy you had ever seen and its star, Jim Carrey, dominated the screen with a physical and comedic flare that reminded one of John Belushi in Animal House, Steve Martin in The Jerk and Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

While Ace Ventura is nowhere near those films as an overall whole, the character himself belongs in the aforementioned company of Bluto Blutarsky, Navin R. Johnson and Carl Spackler.  Carrey mugged shamelessly, made funny faces, overacted and literally talked out of his ass.  It took America by storm and made Carrey, a longtime actor/comedian, into an international star.  I had never been a fan of yuk-yuk films like this and I resisted seeing it for the longest time. But after literally being forced to watch it in college, I had to admit its genius.

Yes it is unquestionably one of the most asinine and obnoxious films you will ever see BUT it is also one of the funniest films, from a physical and stupidity standpoint, you will ever see. Yes, alcohol helps greatly and does increase the laugh quotient exponentially. But, even sober, there are still several moments that make me laugh uncontrollably and hit the rewind button countless times.  Ace is a weird, strange dork but it is so original you can’t help but laugh.  Whether he’s pretending to be a Stanford-educated lawyer, mimicking the characters from Star Trek or visiting a mental hospital, Ace Ventura will make you laugh frequently and uncontrollably.

Carrey plays Ace Ventura, a Miami pet detective who specializes in finding missing or stolen animals. He is hired by the Miami Dolphins football team to find their kidnapped dolphin mascot, Snowflake as the team approaches playing in the Super Bowl. Things get complicated when a murder occurs followed by the Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino being kidnapped.  Throughout the film, Carrey plays Ace as if being constantly wired on a coffee/cocaine high.

He’s supremely arrogant about his detective abilities as evidenced by his overly exaggerated entrance whenever he walks into a room. He acts insane, talks in a hilariously condescending tone, wears Hawaiian shirts and has one of the goofiest hairdos you’ll ever see. But, for reasons only God can explain, it is very funny if for no other reason than for Carrey’s shear abandon and commitment to the material.  His facial expressions alone are worth sitting through this brief, 86-minute farce.

The cast includes a young, pre-Friends and HOT Courtney Cox as the Dolphins’ publicist who aids Ace on his search for Snowflake as well as providing a romantic interest, Sean Young, whose career was cratering at this point, as tough-as-nails police Lieutenant Lois Einhorn, Tone Loc as a police buddy of Ace, the late, great Noble Willingham as the owner of the Dolphins (his second football owner if you remember his villainous Sheldon Marcone from The Last Boy Scout,) the great character actor John Capodice as Sergeant Aguado, who derives great joy from making Ace look bad, and Dan Marino playing himself. 

Cox does a decent job in a role that basically calls for her to look hot at every turn, which she does quite well. You do cringe for Sean Young here though whose career had already begun its infamous tailspin. She does her best but it is sad to see this great actress with so much potential slumming in a juvenile film like this, especially given the twist her character has at the end, which is not flattering to say the least. She’s still hot, though.

Ironically, it is Marino himself that provides the film with the ultimate power down, acting-wise.  He is so annoyingly awful here, playing himself mind you, that you actually find yourself wishing he would die a most painful death. He makes Jar Jar Binks seem loveable and vital. That being said, the film is what it is; a Jim Carrey vehicle for him to show the world what he was capable of.  The version here is touted as being the first DVD version of the film in widescreen. The older DVD incarnation was a pan and scan with a commentary by director Tom Shadyac and not much else.

Unfortunately and for some strange reason, the version included in this set deletes the additional footage that was present from the older version. Now, you say, “With a film like this, who cares?” The fact is that the scene removed, where Ace pretends to be Snowflake’s new Euro trash trainer, is one of the funniest and most memorable scenes in the film. Why Warners left the scene out here is beyond me.

Because of this omission, however, I would suggest to those like myself, I’m ashamed to say, who own the older DVD of the film; hang onto it.  The commentary by director Shadyac and the trailers/TV spots are holdovers from the older DVD. The only new thing included here is the widescreen scope which, to be honest in a film like this, really doesn’t matter all that much. Gone With the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia this aint.

Previous to this Carrey had been best known as the token white guy on the sketch comedy show In Living Color, had done one leading role in a film, the 1985 vampire comedy Once Bitten, and had gotten small roles in bigger films like Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and was particularly hilarious and over-the-top as a drugged out rock star in Clint Eastwood’s last Dirty Harry film The Dead Pool (1988).

He had gotten strong notices for his work in the small comedy Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) and surprised many with a dramatic turn in the made-for-TV film Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992).  Ace Ventura: Pet Detective would be the springboard film for Carrey; after this he had a string of hits consisting of The Mask (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994), Batman Forever (1995), and then the inevitable Ace Ventura sequel; When Nature Calls (also in 95).  Thankfully, Carrey would mature from these juvenile films and go on to give strong, underappreciated performances in serious films like The Truman Show (1998), Man on the Moon (1999) and most recently, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).

Many of these roles were considered to be Oscar-worthy but no nominations ever came from them. One wonders if the Ace Ventura movies unfairly marked Carrey as a certain type of actor to many academy voters who just couldn’t see themselves handing out a nomination to a guy that talked through his ass on-screen.

Disc two contains When Nature Calls and this film should have been called Ace Ventura: When a studio has an unexpected hit then gives carte blanche to its star, which in turn delivers the very worst aspects of the original a hundred fold. There are very few genuine laughs here. It becomes quickly annoying, stupid, boring and intensely obnoxious.  There are scenes that involve mass quantities of mucous, aborted masturbation and Carrey just acting like a hammy jackass.

The film starts out promising, with Ace suffering an accident in the mountains that mimics the opening of Renny Harlin’s Cliffhanger. He retires from the pet detective business and goes to live in an ashram. He is then brought out of retirement to find a sacred bat that can halt an impending war between two African tribes. After the opening though, the film becomes unremittingly grating to where you will be checking your watch frequently. Not even a fifth of Jack Daniels can make this funny.

There might have been a funny movie using the tribal/jungle elements along with the fish-out-of-water Ace. Unfortunately, it makes the first Ace Ventura look like a film up for induction in the Library of Congress. It is the longest hour and 34 minute film you will ever see and that’s not a good thing. There are no extras here, thank God, save for a few trailers from the film. Disc three contains three episodes from the short-lived Ace Ventura animated series (The Rein-Deer Hunter, Natural Born Koalas, and Dragon Guy). They’re somewhat amusing but not very memorable.

In the end, I can’t recommend picking this set up. This seems like a poorly thrown together compilation which is surprising considering that of all the major studios, Warner Brothers usually produces the best box sets and special edition DVDs.

The only reason to buy it would be for the Pet Detective DVD, however considering that it’s missing one of the best scenes, I would say stick with the original uncut version, unless of course, you just HAVE to have a widescreen version of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. If you do fall under that category, you just might be more of a film dork than me and that’s not a compliment.

Ace Ventura Deluxe Double Feature is now available at Amazon. As of yet, it is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.