Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 20:34, 25 December 2006
| Ace Ventura: Pet Detective | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Tom Shadyac |
| Written by | Jack Bernstein (story and screenplay) Tom Shadyac Jim Carrey (screenplay) |
| Produced by | James G. Robinson |
| Starring | Jim Carrey Courteney Cox Sean Young |
| Cinematography | Julio Macat |
| Edited by | Don Zimmerman |
| Music by | Ira Newborn |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date | 4 February 1994 |
Running time | 86 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a 1994 wacky comedy movie, directed by Tom Shadyac. It stars Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Tone Loc, and Sean Young, among others. Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino also portrays himself in a minor role.
The story follows the adventures of Ace Ventura, an eccentric detective who specializes in cases involving pet animals, in his search for "Snowflake", the missing mascot of the Miami Dolphins. Ace is easily identified by not only his bright Hawaiian shirts but also his hairdo and sunglasses which were both inspired by the Dirty Harry Callahan character from actor Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies.
This film and Carrey's involvement with the TV comedy show In Living Color are said to have helped Jim Carrey establish himself as one of the highest paid comedic talents in Hollywood. This is the first of three Jim Carrey-Tom Shadyac collaborations; others following it would be Liar, Liar, and Bruce Almighty.
The film inspired a successful sequel Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) and a spinoff Ace Ventura: Pet Detective cartoon series on CBS. A third film, Ace Ventura, Jr., is currently being planned.
This film is number 7 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
Cast
- Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura
- Courteney Cox as Melissa Robinson
- Sean Young as Lois Einhorn
- Tone Lōc as Emilio
- Dan Marino as himself
Plot summary
Template:Spoiler When we first meet Ace, he is dressed as a delivery man in a brown suit. He delivers his package to a man and while the man is distracted, sneaks the man's dog into his jacket. He gets in the car and tries to start it but the car stalls. Just then the man comes with a baseball bat. Ace is able to get away, and manages to get the kidnapped dog back to its owner, a gorgeous woman. After returning the dog, we see a truck pulling up into a football stadium and several men in black kidnap "Snowflake," a dolphin, the Miami Dolphins' mascot.
The next day, at Ace's apartment, Ace's landlord, Mr. Shickadance, complains that Ace owes him rent, and Ace tells him that when he captures a rare albino pigeon that a millionaire lost and gets a large amount of award, he will pay the rent. The landlord also says that he heard animals in Ace's apartment. When Shickadance went in to see no animal in sight, he tells Ace, "Don't let me catch you with an animal in here, that's all." Ace slams the door into his face, and whistles: Every kind of animal comes out of hiding.
Meanwhile, Melissa Robinson and Roger Podacter who work for the Miami Dolphins were warned if Snowflake does not appear at Super Bowl Sunday, they will be fired. They got information to hire Ace. Ace gets the message when he tries to capture the pigeon.
Ace meets with Melissa and she tells him that Snowflake is a rare bottlenose dolphin who was taught new tricks. At the tank, after meeting Roger and scaring off reporters, Ace found in a filter bucket his first clue: a precious stone.
At the police station, Ace learns from Emilio that Sergeant Aguado is also working on the Snowflake case. He also said that there was only set of tire tracks and no other clues. While Ace was talking from his butt, Lt. Lois Einhorn comes in and tells him that she knows that he is trying to find Snowflake, but he should stay out.
Ace visits Woodstock, trying to find out who would have enough equipment to capture and hold a dolphin. The only person to have that kind of money is Ron Camp, the local billionaire, who's going to have a party. Ace along with Melissa went.
Ace searched the place and found a tank, which he eventually found out holds a shark and not Snowflake. After returning from the party, Ace tells Melissa that he found a stone in the filter. The stone, a rare trianglar-shaped amber, is from a 1984 AFC Championship Ring. Camp had the exact same ring that night, but it was not missing a stone. Ace keeps looking around the football players and coaches from 1984, using a team photo for reference and putting an X on each person when they checked out. Eventually, Ace checks out every person in the photo and no one is missing the stone from their ring.
With Melissa, they both learned that Podacter was dead. It seems to be a case of suicide. However, Ace disproves this by taking the information that Podacter's neighbor heard a scream, supposedly from Podacter's fall from his balcony, and the fact that the sliding door leading to the balcony was closed when police entered and proved that because the door is made from double-paned sound proof glass Podacter's neighbor could not have heard the scream if Podacter had committed suicide and closed the door himself but instead he had been thrown off the balcony and the killer had closed the door when leaving.
When trying to search receipts, at the same time trying to figure out how Podacter's death is connected to the kidnapping to Snowflake, Ace spots another Dolphins team photo from the same season. However, this is a different photo and there is an extra player named Ray Finkle. Melissa explains that Ray Finkle was a kicker who was added to the team during the season, and that the team photo Ace had been working from was taken at the beginning of the season. Finkle missed the potential game-winning field goal kick at the end of the Super Bowl game that year, losing to the San Francisco 49ers. After the season, Finkle's contract was not renewed. But he did get an AFC Championship ring.
Ace went down to Finkle's hometown, visiting Finkle's parents, to get more evidence. It is later learned that Dan Marino was about to be kidnapped and joined with Snowflake. He told Einhorn that the motive for Finkle to kidnap Marino is because when Marino had been holding the ball, Marino did not hold the ball "laces out". The reason for kidnapping Snowflake was because the dolphin was apparently assigned Finkle's jersey number and taught how to kick a field goal.
Ace was told that Finkle was taken into Shady Acres, a mental hospital. He looked in a storage and found Finkle's stuff. Looking through it, Ace found an article saying that Einhorn was a missing hiker whose body was never recovered from a hike. He informed Emilio, who looked through Einhorn's desk, and found a love letter by Podacter. Trying to think why both Finkle and Einhorn was connected, Ace's dog puts his head down and the dog's hair covers around Finkle's head. Looking at it, Ace realize that "Finkle is Einhorn" and that Finkle got surgery to plan his revenge against the Dolphins.
Ace follows Einhorn near the docks. Trying to free Marino, he is caught by Einhorn. When the cops arrive trying to arrest Ace, Melissa and Emilio stop them. Ace explains Finkle's motive and he is actually Einhorn. When trying to prove it by ripping his/her clothes off, Marino tells Ace to look behind her. Ace reveals Finkle's penis in the panties he's wearing, coming also the conclusion as to why Einhorn killed Podacter is because he found Finkle's testicles and penis. Soon, the whole squad is throwing up.
Marino finally is returned to the team in time for the Super Bowl. While at the game, Ace sees the albino pigeon and he tries to catch it. But the Philadelphia Eagle mascot scares the bird away off and both he and Ace get into a fight.
Reaction
Though the film's plot is seemingly idiotic added with the fact that Carrey was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst New Star, the movie nevertheless became a box-office success and helped boost Carrey's career, thrusting him into the Hollywood limelight and paving the way for several other successful projects in the future as well such as The Mask and Dumb & Dumber.
Trivia
- A scene in the movie where Spike is jumping around Ace's apartment was used as the original Rally Monkey for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2000. As its popularity grew, Angel Stadium officials got a similar capuchin monkey for new Rally Monkey footage. Spike also appears in the sequel, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and in the cartoon series. The monkey also has a habit of popping into other Carrey films, for instance, the monkey that comes out of the evil Latino gangster's butt in Bruce Almighty is the same species and breed as Spike.
- The idea for the "Ray Finkle" character missing a game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl was inspired by Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood who actually missed a 48 yard game winning field goal in Super Bowl XXV.[1] In the 1984 season the Miami Dolphins actually played in Super Bowl XIX with Dan Marino as their quarterback but they were defeated in a 38-16 rout by the San Francisco 49ers.[2]
- Actual Members (at the time) of the Miami Dolphins appear during the Isotoner commercial scene, including quarterback Scott Mitchell. The scene features the same gag used in the real life commercials where Marino's teammates (in uniform) pick him up and carry him away.
- Miami Dolphins kicker Pete Stoyanovich plays the role of Einhorn/Finkle's "kicking" double and does the scene (in a dress, wearing flat dress shoes instead of high heels) where Einhorn/Finkle kicks the football through the hole in the roof.
- Lauren Holly auditioned for the role that would eventually go to Courteney Cox. She and Carrey would go on to work together in 1994's Dumb and Dumber and ultimately marry.
- Uwe von Schamann is the player depicted as Ray Finkle in Finkle's parents' game film. While with the Miami Dolphins, he was a member of 2 Super Bowl teams and was perfect in both of them, not missing an extra point or a field goal in each one. The footage of the missed kick was authentic.
- Ace Ventura's detective character is a parody of Clint Eastwood's character Dirty Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry movies. Carrey, who has appeared in two of Clint Eastwood's movies, spoofed some of Dirty Harry's traits such as his waivy hairdo, sporty sunglasses, large 1970's sedan, and occasional tough-guy attitude.
- Jim Carrey opted to put his favourite band, Cannibal Corpse, into the movie; they appear in the scene where Ace goes to meet Woodstock, on stage playing the song Hammer Smashed Face. Later on in the movie, as Ace is being chased by goons, he rips off his shirt, leaps on-stage, and performs a little bit of Hammer Smashed Face before escaping.
- When Ace deduces that the murderer is a woman who used to be a man, the song "Crying Game" sung by Boy George begins to play.
- Ace Ventura is the only character Jim Carrey has played more than once
Quotes
- Ace: (catch phrase) Alrighty then!
- Ace: (catch phrase) Take care now, bye bye then.
- Ace: (catch phrase) Loo-hoo-se-her!
- Ace: (catch phrase) Re-he-he-heeaallly!
- Ace: Like a glove!
- Ace: (in empty dolphin tank, imitating Captain Kirk) Captain's log, stardate 23.9, rounded off to the... nearest decimal point. We've...traveled back in time to save an ancient species from total annihilation. So far, no signs of aquatic life, but I'm going to find it. If I have to tear this universe another black hole, I'm going to find it. I've got to, mister!
- Ray's mother: It was all that Dan Marino's fault, everyone knows that. If he would have held the ball laces out like he was supposed to, Ray would never have missed that kick. Dan Marino should die of gonorrhoea and rot in hell. Would you like a cookie, son?
Ace Ventura: (takes a cookie) What do you know, pretty little footballs.
Ray's mother: Laces out!
- Ace: If I'm not back in five minutes, just wait longer.
- Ace: (frantically) Einhorn is Finkle! Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is a man! OH MY GOD! EINHORN IS A MAN! (proceeds to vomit, then take his clothes off and shower, and then he burns his clothes)
- Ace: Hi, I'm looking for Ray Finkle... (Ray's father pulls a shotgun on Ace and cocks it) ...and a clean pair of shorts.
- Ace: Howdy stranger, this is howser!
- Ace: (Einhorn asking about his presence at the police station) I've came to confess. I was the second gunman on the grassy knoll.
- Ace: (to Einhorn before leaving the police station) Hey, maybe I should give you a call sometime. Your number's still 911? Alrighty then!
- Ace: Hi!
Character
Main article: Ace Ventura
The character of Ace was created by screenwriter Jack Bernstein. He had wanted to do a comedic version of Sherlock Holmes, and when watching "stupid pet tricks" on Late Night With David Letterman, got the idea for a pet detective.
In other cultures
- In the World of Warcraft dungeon of Upper Black Rock Spire there is a character named Finkle Einhorn, a reference to the character in the movie.
- The Fall of Troy's song "Laces Out Dan!" is a reference to the movie.
- In Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, the titular character suggests sending a client to Ace after hearing that the case involves strange animals.
- Metalcore band The Judas Cradle has a song entitled "Laces Out Marino"
References
- ^ Carucci, Vic (2006). "No. 7: Norwood envisioned kick as a winner". SuperBowl.com. NFL Enterprises LLC. Retrieved 2006-04-01.
- ^ "Super Bowl XIX". Super Bowl History. About.com. Retrieved 2006-04-01.
Box office
- Opening weekend U.S. gross: $12,115,105
- Total U.S. box office gross: $72,217,396
External links
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective at IMDb
- Ace Ventura quotes at MovieWavs.com
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Script at Simply Scripts