My favorite movie of all time is The Truman Show. I had high expectations for the movie. About five minutes before it started in the theater I started to say to myself that the expectations I had were too high. I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment which was almost guaranteed with the standards I had. So, I sat with my friend and the previews ended and on came Truman. The first half hour we practically threw in the towel when my friend whispered to me, “So far… this sucks”. I agreed. The reason why it seemed bad at first was because the movie uniquely starts to explain itself halfway threw the picture. All of a sudden the first half hour didn’t seem sucky at all, it actually seemed pretty cool how they worked the movie that way. At the end of it all I, almost embarrassedly, had gotten deep into the movie. Now the film got great reviews and the audience seemed please, (clapping their hands at the end), but it never reached the status that I think it deserved. So for a while, when people asked me what my favorite movie was, I would pull a “American Beauty” out of my ass. It was really Truman, but I felt a little silly admitting that. Well, I’m out of the closet now. I just loved the idea of that movie… AND Jim Carrey first dramatic acting.
I really wanted Carrey to succeed because I think deep down he's a great guy who started of quitting school to help support his family. He is SO MUCH in love with his daughter mother and father who dedicated his Goldan Globe for best dramatic actor in Truman to. I (HEAR) that he give to charities anonymously so it's not done to help his work. If that's not true, I know he gave money to the relife effort of 9/11. He can also be a whiny snob, but nowhere near the whiny snob David Duckovny is. It's been rocky for him, but he made it and in a big way. He suffered from depression, as he said once at an award ceremony, something along the lines of, "I want to thank whoever invented Prozac, without which I wouldn't be here". He made his initial riches in comedy, though I was never a big fan of his comedic work, but I liked his background story so I wanted the guy succeed. He won Golden Globes for his Truman and Man On The Moon performances, but no Oscar noms yet.
He'll be in the upcoming film The Majestic, Directed by Frank Darabont who did The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption and had two Oscar Noms for those two movies. However, I'm a little nervous about the quality of this movie. Milos Forman is an amazing director with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and People vs Larry Flint under his belt, but Man on the Moon was, in my eyes mediocre. Not that Carrey did a poor job, he did great, but the picture as a whole didn't come together right. The man who wrote the script for The Majestic, Michael Sloane doesn't have much experience in writing at all (as far as I know)... but that can be a good thing too!! The test screenings of the movie was "pretty high," and people applauded at the end of the movie, but there was some critiquing done by at least 2 people who saw two sperate test screenings. There are 3 reviews online, one rates it great, the other good and then one mediocre... however he did say most of his friends loved it and thought carrey was Oscar worthy. So I once again am curious. I think Carrey can still do comedy but he doesn't have the rubber body and gawky face he once did. Look at Me Myself and Irene, which saw for manly for Renee Zellweger. The Farrelly brothers probibly thought Carrey to be perfect for showing people the physical burden of haveing good and bad personalities in a Farrelly comedy. I don't think he has that anymore. He could get it back, but it would take a lot of stretching.
I’m not alone. In the recent Entertainment Weekly survey of the hundred greatest entertainers, Jim Carrey was namechecked. I’m not too impressed with Entertainment Weekly, but they have a quote from Chris Rock who says, roughly, “I’m not the funniest man in America. Anybody who knows funny knows Jim Carrey is the funniest man in America.”
You would at least be hard-pressed to find a comedian with more personal charisma than Jim Carrey. Man walks out on stage and he pretty much owns it.
“There’s a lot of fine pussy in this room.” has got to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.
But I think he needs to jump on the ball again. TRUMAN SHOW was good, but MAN IN THE MOON smacked of hero worship. I like Andy Kaufman, but I don’t want to be smacked over the head with people telling me he was a genius. ME, MYSELF AND IRENE was only pretty funny, not uproarius. Since then all I’ve seen is Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey at award shows.
I agree 100% about Man on the Moon. But even though the movie sort of sucked, Carrey was great. If anything he contributed a whole lot to the film. You know how I feel about Truman… It’s crazy how much I like that movie. It reminds me of a GREAT (the best) time in my whole life. The movie came out in the beginning of summer, and that summer was awesome.
Truman is a great movie. I love it - I just got the DVD (Woohoo!!). The first Ace Ventura movie was one of the funniest I’ve ever seen. His others have been good, though few allow him to live up to his full potential. I enjoy watching him onscreen, and hope to see him in more quality flicks in the future.
the best description I heard of Man on the Moon was “it was an excuse for Jim Carrey to act”.
But I did really like the Truman Show, Ace Ventura, and Dumb & Dumber. Contrarily, I hated Ace Ventura II, Me Myself and Irene, and Man on the Moon. I don’t think I saw Liar Liar and I don’t remember what else he was in since he got famous.
I’m not that excited about most of his films, although i think he did a wonderful job in Truman and Man. My favorite for funny was probably “Liar, Liar” - brilliant in that.
But I first became aware of Jim Carrey in the early 80’s, before the Wayans show, before movies, before everything. I was astonished by his impressions, which as most of you probably know, were almost entirely visual. Jaw-dropping stuff. I wish I had a reel of all his early stuff, because that was when I loved him the best.
He is tremendously talented, and he is in the truly exceptional position of being a wildly talented comedian with leading-man looks. I can’t think of the last time that was true…if ever.
I hope his ego doesn’t get so big he blows it. He needs to stop * expecting * Oscar nominations and getting pissy when he doesn’t receive them. It’s very distasteful.
I think Jim Carrey is genuinely funny. Some of his “bits” (for lack of a better word) are pure gold, at least for me. That nose whistling scene in Me, Myself, and Irene busts me up every time.
It’s just when he goes too over the top that he gets annoying. Unwatchably annoying. I couldn’t even sit through most of The Mask, because the whole movie played out like one of his Fire Marshal Bill skits.
I’m half-and-half on Carrey’s films – I loved the Ace Ventura movies, The Mask, and believe The Truman Show is a classic, but I can’t stand (or have no interest in) stuff like Dumb and Dumber and The Cable Guy.
Still, on his own merits, I’ll readily admit that Carrey is a talented comedian with a seemingly bottomless supply of energy, and a good actor overall. He might not be Robert Redford, but Redford could never have pulled off the insane energy needed for many of the Stanley Ipkiss scenes in The Mask, so it’s a tradeoff.
I actually feel kind of sorry for Carrey, though – it’s obvious that he wants to be known for doing dramatic work (hence The Truman Show and Man in the Moon), but so far, too many folks are ready to dismiss him as “the crazy guy who talks out of his ass”…