Ace Ventura Pet Detective (1994)

SPORTS COMEDY: 1994, PG-13. A Miami Dolphin football player misses a field goal and thereby loses the Super Bowl. He blames his failure on the teammate who didn’t hold the ball correctly for the kick. Guilt – assisted by public pressure – drives him insane. He escapes from a mental institution, changes his sex, becomes a police lieutenant and waits for the moment of his/her revenge. He kidnaps the star player, who he blames for his failure, and the dolphin mascot to demoralize the rest of the football team. He murders the team’s coach because the coach discovers his true identity. Ace Ventura, a finder of lost pets, hired simply to recover the dolphin, solves the whole case – kidnapping, animal napping, murder, and all.

VIOLENCE/SCARINESS: Murder, gun-pointing, and moderate physical violence, some funny and some quite serious. Despite the title, this is not an animal film! Those few that do appear are not “cute.” In fact, many of them are quite scary. Ace, for instance, is attacked and almost castrated by a shark. Because of the title, parents may be tempted to let children far too you see this film.

CRIMES: Murder (P), Kidnapping (P).

MORALS, ISSUES & VALUES: Despite his silliness, Ace is a good detective; he has a tremendous knowledge of all subjects, from biology to sports history. As he reveals his intellectual power to solve crimes, women find him more attractive. Obviously, his outrageous behavior is a compensation for self-doubt (as it is with many children). But, as the film clearly demonstrates, it is unnecessary since people like and respect him for who he is. Unfortunately he ends as he began – crazily extroverted (but with a girl friend). This undermines any pro-intellectual messages. According to the film: The inability to deal with failure leads to insanity. Intelligence is more attractive to women than outrageous behavior. Masculinity should not be identified totally with accomplishments in sports. Religious images are lampooned: Ace loves animals and, at one point, dozens of animals decorate him like a statue of St. Francis of Assisi covered with birds.

SEXUALITY & GENDER ISSUES: Considerable adult sexuality (simulated oral sex, a couple in bed, male genitals under tight clothing). Threat of injury to male organs is common. Toilet humor. Fear of homosexual contact. Homosexuality and transvestitism is identified with evil. The depth of the villain’s insanity, according to the film, is demonstrated by his sex change. The film associates sports with male sexuality; the loss of one indicates the loss of the other; if one can’t perform in sports, one is not a man. The villain, since he is not a man, becomes a woman. Thus, the depth of the villain’s insanity, according to the film, is demonstrated by his sex change. Ace kisses an apparently female police lieutenant and all is well … until he discovers his mistake. The film goes on and on with Ventura trying desperately and outrageously to “cleanse” himself of the kiss. His adolescent reaction to unknowingly kissing a man is totally overblown and expresses typical adolescent fear (yet curiosity) of homosexual contact.

SUBSTANCES: Background characters smoke. People drink at a cocktail party.

COMMENTS: This crude comedy will attract youngsters primarily because of the madcap, anti-establishment antics of flexible-faced comic Jim Carrey. Ace Ventura is an outsider, and like many children who feel ignored either by their parents or society, acts outrageously to get attention. Ace Ventura, Pet Detective is a relatively mature comedy about revenge, murder, madness, sex-change operations, and a psychologically immature central character. On the other hand, it is about sports and the problems involved with over identifying with winning. The film clearly shows the dangers of peer pressure, a message important to any youngster, in the context of a raunchy comedy.

STARRING: Jim Carrey, Courtney Cox, Sean Young, Ton Loc, Dan Marino, Noble Willingham, Troy Evans, Randall “Tex” Cobb.