Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (or simply Ace Ventura) is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac, and co-written by and starring Jim Carrey. It was developed by the film's original writer, Jack Bernstein, and co-producer, Bob Israel, for almost six years. The film co-stars Courteney Cox, Tone L?c, Sean Young and former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. In the film, Carrey plays Ace Ventura, an animal detective who is tasked with finding the Miami Dolphins' mascot that was abducted. The film features a cameo appearance from death metal band Cannibal Corpse.
Despite receiving generally negative reviews from critics, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was a box office success, grossing $107 million worldwide from a $12 million budget. In addition to launching Carrey's film career it also spawned a sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls; a direct-to-video spin-off, Ace Ventura, Jr.: Pet Detective; and an animated series, which lasted three seasons.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Plot
Ace Ventura is an eccentric Miami-based private detective who specialises in retrieving tame or captive animals. However, he struggles to pay his rent, and is often mocked by the Miami Police Department, led by Lieutenant Lois Einhorn, who finds Ventura insufferable. Ventura rescues a dog being held for ransom. Two weeks before the Miami Dolphins are to play in the Super Bowl, their mascot, a bottlenose dolphin named Snowflake, is kidnapped. Melissa Robinson, the Dolphins' chief publicist, hires Ventura to find Snowflake.
Searching Snowflake's tank for clues, Ventura finds a rare triangular-cut, orange amber stone, which he speculates to be a part of a 1984 AFC Championship ring. Ace suspects a billionaire, Ronald Camp, may have stolen Snowflake. Ventura and Melissa sneak in to Camp's party, Ventura mistaking a shark for Snowflake and is nearly eaten. Camp apologises, shaking Ventura's hand, wearing a ring with an amber stone identical to the one Ventura found. Ruling out Camp, Ventura concludes that a member of the 1984 Miami Dolphins line-up may have kidnapped Snowflake, and will be able to identify the culprit by their rings.
However, he discovers all of the team members' rings are intact. Roger Podacter, the team's head of operations, mysteriously dies after falling from his apartment balcony. Einhorn declares it a suicide, but Ventura proves it to have been murder. Ventura comes across an old photograph of the football team, discovering an unfamiliar player named Ray Finkle, who was only added in during midseason. Finkle missed the field goal kick at the end of Super Bowl XVII, which cost the Dolphins the championship, ruining his career.
Visiting Finkle's parents, Ventura learns he blames Dan Marino for the end of his career, and was subsequently committed to a mental hospital. Marino is kidnapped himself shortly after. Ventura visits Einhorn, pitching his theory that Finkle kidnapped both Marino and Snowflake in an act of revenge, the dolphin having been given his team number. He also theorises that Finkle murdered Podacter. Einhorn compliments Ventura and kisses him. Ventura and Melissa go to the mental hospital, the former posing as a potential patient, uncovering a newspaper article in Finkle's possessions about a missing hiker named Lois Einhorn.
Ventura realises that Einhorn is in fact Finkle: Finkle used the fact that the actual Einhorn was missing and presumed dead (but with no body found), and took on her identity, had surgery to change his gender, and began a career with the Miami Police Department to eventually get revenge on Marino and the Dolphins. On Super Bowl Sunday, Ventura follows Einhorn to an abandoned yacht storage facility where she has Marino and Snowflake held hostage. Ventura and Einhorn fight, who calls the police, framing Ventura for the kidnappings. Melissa and Ventura's friend, police officer Emilio, stage a hostage situation to get the police to listen to Ventura.
Ventura strips Einhorn of her clothes to expose her failure to completely change her sex, Marino pointing out a bulge in the back of her underwear, actually Finkle's unchanged privates hidden out of view. This confirms that Finkle murdered Podacter, having discovered Finkle's secret. Einhorn is arrested by the police after attacking Ventura, Finkle's ring identified to have a missing stone. Marino and Snowflake are welcomed back during half-time at the Super Bowl in a match between the Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles. Ventura tries to retrieve a valuable albino pigeon, but it is scared off by the Eagles' mascot Swoop, causing Ventura to attack him in retaliation.
Pet Boarding In Miami Video
Cast
Reception
Box office
Ace Ventura grossed $12,115,105 in 1,750 theaters in its first week. When it stopped showing in theaters in the US and Canada, the total gross was $72,217,396. It went on to gross $35,000,000 internationally.
Critical Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Along with The Mask and Dumb and Dumber, both also released in 1994, the film is widely credited with launching the career of actor Jim Carrey. Carrey was nominated for the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance but lost to Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. Carrey was also nominated for a Razzie Award for "Worst New Star". The film's popularity spawned a 1995 sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, with Carrey returning in the lead role.
American Film Institute recognition:
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
- "All-righty then!" - Nominated
Accusations of transphobia
The revelation that Lt. Einhorn is transgender and the resultant disgust exhibited by the protagonists and other supporting characters has come under criticism since the film's release, with many declaring it to be transphobic. In a retrospective article focusing on transphobia in the history of comedy, author Meredeth Talusan writes about Ace Ventura: "Lois ceases to be a full-fledged human being as soon as she's revealed to be trans, so she can be subjected to such cruelties as having her body forcibly exposed for public display without consequence." She continues to observe that "the exposure of these women becomes synonymous with "catching" them; there's no meaningful difference made between finding out a woman is trans and discovering that she's a criminal."
In a separate article, touching upon the aftermath of this revelation, R. Kurt Osenlund comments similarly, highlighting the stark lack of redemption afforded to Lt. Einhorn when she is exposed. He proceeds to characterize the degree of trans-shaming exhibited in the film as "militant" and writes that "the way all of it is depicted on screen is, in retrospect especially, criminal."
Source of the article : Wikipedia
EmoticonEmoticon