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Once upon a time, there was a little boy. Having been diagnosed (sort of) with ADHD and hyperactivity, he was a bit of a handful for everyone around him. Although the boy was always happy to be playful, he found it confusing that most adults (aside from those closest to him) didn't seem to share his energy or boundless enthusiasm for what would later be known as "legal insanity." But then, one day, the boy stumbled upon a little movie starring a young and promising comedic talent named Jim Carry. The movie was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the story of a wacky adult who dedicated his life to protecting animals and solving mysteries. The boy grew fond of this movie, and its titular character, as he related to the detective's wackiness both as entertainment value and as a sense of reassurance that it's okay to be weird.
The movie has remained a favorite in the boy's collection ever since. Even when the boy got older, rewatched the movie again, and realized something about it that, well, let's just say parts of the movie haven't aged well. But we'll get to that in due time.
Alrighty then, on with the review!
Yes, it may come as no surprise to any of my beautiful readers that Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is one of my favorite comedies of all time. It's one of those movies I enjoy rewatching (for the most part) because it's one of those films that embraces its silliness, thereby encouraging the audience to have fun. Many movies, even today, seem to be afraid or ashamed to be silly, for one reason or another. As if it was something to avoid. Except being silly doesn't always mean being ridiculous. Gemini Man is enjoyably silly because of its far-fetched premise, but it works because everyone involved embraced the concept and had fun with it. Resulting in a film that succeeds in delivering fun action and an excellent concept.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is very much the same in that regard. It has an outrageous concept and has tons of fun with it, rather than try to reshape it into something that would be considered "conventional" or "acceptable." This kind of risky attitude towards producing movies has sadly declined far too much in recent years, and I'd argue that it's one of the many ways Hollywood could potentially revive itself once again.
For those who don't know, the story follows a wacky private detective named Ace Ventura (Jim Carry), who specializes in mysteries involving animals. His latest case involves the disappearance of a Dolphin named Snowflake, the mascot of the Florida-based Football team. This incident could not have happened at a worst time, as the Miami Dolphins are preparing for the next Super Bowl, and the team's owner is concerned about the effect on the team's morale (being just a bit superstitious). So, they seek out Ace Ventura to crack the case. At first, they don't think he's as professional as they had hoped, being so unusually silly as he is. Still, he turns out to be more insightful and intelligent than they had hoped, as he eventually uncovers someone's devious plot to take revenge on the Miami Dolphins. Despite many obstacles thrown his way, including the aggressive and antagonistic Lt. Einhorn (Sean Young) of the Miami Police Department (much more on her in a minute), Ace Ventura will stop at nothing to rescue Snowflake and solve the case.
Why? Again, I'll get to that soon.
Overall, the movie is an enjoyable watch! It has a decent mystery, convincing performances, and a subtle commentary on the dangers of rabid sports fandom. Not to mention some of the wittiest writing (for the most part) ever put to screen. Part of which is the result of the movie's co-writer and star, Jim Carry.
There was a time when Jim Carry ruled the world of comedy. Starting out as an original cast member of the skit show In Living Color, his career skyrocketed with his first major feature film, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. From there, he went on to star in other comedy classics such as The Mask and probably my personal favorite, Liar Liar. Jim Carry carries himself (no pun intended) with a fully embraced sense of silliness very few people have ever been able to match. His style of comedy is reminiscent of classics such as Monty Python, where silliness is the order of the day. Even today, after a few hits, some misses, and a couple of misguided decisions, he's still one of the funniest people working today. At least, in my opinion.
Okay, I think I've avoided this part of the review long enough. There's no way to discuss this movie today without mentioning its more... let's say unfortunate & outdated perspective on something. It's time to discuss the elephant in the room, which means not only a spoiler warning but a trigger warning as well.
You have been warned!
SPOILERS
TRIGGER WARNING: transgender phobia, possible homophobia, and hetero-normativity.
Okay, so the perpetrator turns out to be none other than Lt. Einhorn, who is also not who she claims to be. In reality (that is to say, the film's reality), Lt. Einhorn is, in actuality, a former Miami Dolphin kicker named Ray Finkle.
In the story, Ray Finkle caused his team to lose Super Bowl 17 (by one point) by missing a 26-yard field goal. Finkle blamed fellow teammate Dan Marino for his botching of the kick because he believes Marino held the ball laces in instead of the typical practice of holding the ball laces out. After the NFL refused to renew his contract, Finkle was ostracized and harassed by the fans, to the point of being driven mad and committed to a mental hospital in Tampa. Eventually, Finkle escaped and assumed the identity of a missing/presumed dead hiker named Lois Einhorn, undergoing plastic surgery to become a woman, and joined the police force, biding his time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike back against his former team.
His first move was to kidnap Snowflake the Dolphin. Why? Because the team gave Snowflake Finkle's number and trained him to make a field goal, which he took a little too personally. His next step was to kidnap Dan Marino and "punish" them for his pain. All of this had to be at the right time, the time that would hurt them the most; Super Bowl time!
Now, this twist comes as a massive shock to Ace Ventura mainly because, well, before the revelation of Lt. Einhorn's true identity, this happened:
In this scene, Lt. Einhorn is aware of Ace Venture closing in on the case and decides to try and seduce and dissuade him from going further into solving the mystery or anything else.
So, when Ace Venture eventually discovers Lt. Einhorn's true identity and sex, his reaction is...well...perhaps it would be better if I showed you:
Click the link below to see what I'm talking about. Skip to 1:25 in the video's timeline to go straight to the reaction.
Have you seen it?
Okay, let's talk about it.
There really isn't any other way to describe that moment other than as "a product of the not-as-progressive-as-we-remember '90s." Even in this presentation as a "joke," it's still not and has never been funny. The sad fact is that this scene contributes to unwarranted transphobia, homophobia (however unintentional or indirectly), and unjustified hetero-normativity, by establishing heterosexuality as the standard and only "proper" form of human sexual identity. A concept that is as harmful and toxic as anything that comes out of an insurrectionist's mouth.
This very moment in the film, along with the similar moment proceeding it, is the reason I cannot, in good conscience, give the movie a total four-star rating. It's the kind of situation I utterly despise because I still enjoy the rest of the movie for its creativity, energy, and comedy (the actually funny stuff, that is). To have this tasteless "joke" in the movie turns my stomach inside out.
To play devil's advocate for a moment, one could argue that the joke was not that Ace Ventura or anyone else was disgusted at the mere existence of a transgender person, but rather at having been fooled into getting intimate with a specific sexual orientation they did not identify with. A kind of extreme-mistaken-identity joke rather than a phobic one. Admittedly, this was my initial interpretation of the joke, as I've never found the idea of gender identification, even back then, to be all that strange or disgusting. Unfortunately, as much as I would prefer this to be the case, the sad fact is that it likely wasn't the interpretation or intention of the writers at the time.
But, to be fair, at least it's not as bad as what came next.
The less said about this, the better!
Despite this unfortunate aspect of the film (and despite my spoilers), I still recommend checking out the movie for yourself. It is an incredible showcase of the kind of comedic talent Jim Carry is and is loaded with enough genuinely funny moments to outweigh the lesser ones. I do not believe that this movie should be hated or banned because what the writers believed was funny at the time, misguided though they were. Instead, let this moment serve as a reminder of how important it is to think very carefully before committing to an idea.
We can't change the movie; we can only learn from it.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
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