His animal love is so great that even the killing of a cockroach sets him off, and yet, he’s hired by the Miami Dolphins’ publicist, Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox), to track down Snowflake, the team’s kidnapped dolphin mascot, who was already living its life in a tank barely larger than a suburban swimming pool. He’s eccentric to a fault, and often animalistic himself, nibbling sunflower seeds and spitting away the shells like a bird, and employing an arsenal of creature sounds that give Carrey a vocal workout. Ace, for those who don’t know, is a Miami-based sleuth who specializes in tracking down animals. It’s set during the lead-up to a Super Bowl, and while I’m sure plenty of football films have delivered their share of queer slurs, I don’t think any are as homophobic-or, in large part, transphobic-as this one.īut even before Ace Ventura takes jaw-dropping swipes at the queer community (we’ll get to that), it’s already cluelessly steeped in poor taste. What I didn’t realize is that this movie is shockingly offensive, and not in the tongue-in-cheek, envelope-pushing way most modern comedies are. I’m not sure if I ever loved Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, but I clearly absorbed enough of it to remember its hallmarks well: lines like, “Alrighty then” Ace’s signature, tidal-wave up-do and gags like Ace literally talking out of his ass. But I recently discovered that, in my personal viewing history, perhaps no movie has played more differently for my current and former selves than Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.Ĭo-written by lead star Jim Carrey, this 1994 football-themed farce made the rubbery comedian a household name, and was quickly followed, within two years, by the onslaught of The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever, and the Ace Ventura sequel, When Nature Calls. We all have stories like this, of course. I was eight, and I was scolded by the friend’s mom, but all I knew was that’s what Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman said when she landed in a truck full of kitty litter. A childhood story I’ve recounted ad nauseam involves Batman Returns, and my recitation of the word “bastard” at a friend’s house during playtime. Back then, there were countless passages I didn’t get, and, surely, dialogue I couldn’t grasp. To see these movies again, today, is often a wildly different experience. One of my favorite things about recalling my movie-watching past is considering the ways I viewed certain films through younger eyes.

Ace ventura pet detective rhino scene