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Jim Carrey – what do you think?

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Laid low by strep-related cellulitis, which had given me the joy of fever, chills, shakes and an inflamed left calf – delightful in what must be hottest, most humid August in 20 years, I have turned to iPlayer to pass the time as the penicillin does its tricks.
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Many interesting and diverting films to watch – things I’ve never seen (All The President’s Men, Bridge of Spies), things I have a nostalgic fondness for (Point Break).
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There were also two films starring Jim Carrey, which I started watching.
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To save space here, I’ll put my own thoughts in the first comment, and to save time, here’s the question at the end:
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Do other Afterworders have views, positive or negative of Jim Carrey’s films?

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Comments

  1. Continued…

    With an uncertain memory, I thought The Mask might fit into the nostalgic fondness category. I remember, back in the 99s when I watched Carrey in green prosthetic, breaking free from his mild-mannered personality with his outlandish schtick.

    Setting it off, I couldn’t bear more than the first outing for The Mask, when he turns into fairground carney with a balloon Tommy gun. It all came back to me – the ludicrous, unbelievable set pieces, the 2d heroes, villains and love interest. A switch off.

    A little bit of Jim Carrey goes a long way, with his one note, zero to 100 dial, preening super confidence in so many of the films I remember – Dumb and Dumber, Bruce Almighty – you know the list.

    So it was with some trepidation that I considered Man on The Moon, also on iPlayer. This is going to be another self-indulgent vanity project, I thought, with Carrey given free licence to trample over the legacy of a comedian, who I only vaguely remember from occasional episodes of Taxi, that REM song, and references by Laurie Anderson who was a friend and used to be a wrestling stooge of his.

    And at first, it wasn’t inspiring. The false b/w start from a high pitched, nervous, poor comedian from the Caspian Sea who played a kid’s record player and sang silly children’s songs, suggested it was going to be a long haul for someone like me, with a poor sense of humour at the best of times.

    But, little by little, it grew on me. The Elvis impression, the creative and elaborate approach to pranking, the Tony Clifton scene where we meet Bob Zmuda, the ‘feud’ with Jerry Lawler, the death at Carnegie Hall, even the TM scenes where he finds his inner peace.

    I thought Carrey had invested a lot into this film, and it was complex and interesting. (I know he stayed in character for the whole shoot, which caused problems, which there’s a documentary about).

    TBH, I thought Carrey did a better job of being Kaufmann, than Kaufmann did – when I watched YT clips to compare later.

    It made me think about other Carrey films I’ve enjoyed, that haven’t gone for the mould of ‘funny guy’.

    The Cable Guy wasn’t popular at the time, but I thought it was a fascinating portrayal of dodgy ethics and obsession.

    And earlier this year I got around to watching a DVD of Number 23. This was really interesting, because for much of the film I thought it was unbelievable conspiratorial, exploitative schlock, leading up to what would be a predictable, Angel Heart style ending. But they switched it, so Carrey’s character was rescued. And reflecting afterwards about the film, it felt to me much more kind-hearted than I had experienced while watching, if that makes sense. So I put it on the pile to keep, not chuck.

    There’s a scene in Man in the Moon, where Carrey is told by the Transcendental Meditation elders that he cannot come to the regular annual retreat weekend. Asked why not, they refer to the wrestling, the outbursts against women, his foul language. He is stunned and shocked. Later, his girlfriend (Courtney Love) says:
    LYNNE: Andy, you’re not horrible. You’re just… complicated.
    ANDY: You don’t know the real me.
    LYNNE: Andy… there is no real you.

    Maybe there is no real Carrey, but sometimes I think he humanely captured darkness and light, fool and savant, in his roles.

    Which leaves me wondering, do other Afterworders have views, positive or negative of Jim Carrey’s films?

  4. I’m not a fan of most of his films, but am very much a fan of Man On The Moon. I think he captures Andy Kaufman so well. The excellent documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond is about the extent to which he became Kaufman. Very worth watching.

    Jim Carrey once said “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” I think that’s bollocks. If you’re unhappy in yourself, being rich might not help much, but for a pretty happy sort of person I think being rich would be jolly spiffing. Being famous would be a right drag though. Dunno why the two have to be grouped together.

    • First paragraph, glad you agree. I was daunted, thinking it would be dull biopic or only of interest to Kaufmann fans, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong.

      Second paragraph, I think that’s the danger with well worn phrases, they go together like a horse and carriage without you needing to do any thinking first. Mund you, ‘rich’ these days seems to mean billionaire status, which inevitably brings fame with it.

    • I just rewatched the scene where he is in panic over, and then ends up insulting his boss and his colleagues. It’s tense, anticipatory, and there’s great release at the end – the fear of something new being overcome.

      Though I haven’t seen the Invention of Lying, I think I’d prefer Carrey’s optimistic, positive view of the world to Gervaise’s cynical, barrel-fish shooting, atheism.

      • The whole film is tense, anticipatory with a great release at the end. No spoilers but the transformation of his character throughout the narrative is astonishing. It’s exactly as a great film should be.

        I mostly enjoyed Gervais’s After Life. His dour outlook on life fits in perfectly. One season too long and too much gratuitous foul language for my taste.

  7. He’s a very love-him-or-hate-him performer, and his zany schtick can be off-putting for many people, but when he tones that down I think he’s a great actor.

    As mentioned above, he’s very good/serious in Eternal Sunshine and Truman, but he’s also interesting in smaller roles where the spotlight is not on him so much and perhaps as a result there’s a bit less of the wearing “Look at me being crazeee!” For example, he’s fun (if admittedly still a bit OTT) in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, opposite the great Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi, and in Kick-Ass 2.

    The outtakes at the end of Liar Liar show that he’s not too big for his co-stars to mock his zaniness, and he laughs along with them, so bravo for that.

    And if he did nothing else, I’ll thank him for making me laugh like a fool with the “Do you want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?” bit in Dumb & Dumber, and the Ace Ventura line “If I’d been drinking from the toilet, I could have been killed!”

  8. Perhaps about 10 years ago, I was half-watching The Grinch with me nippers and I ended up captivated by how utterly brilliant Carrey is as a physical comic. The voice is strange, he is heavily disguised facially and he is covered in green synthetic fur – but you know within a couple of seconds that it’s definitely, unmistakably Jim Carrey.

    I have seen most of his films apart from the Ace Ventura ones and I like him. The Cable Guy was a difficult watch for all the right reasons – I put this into the category occupied by Robin Williams’ One Hour Photo. Both films reveal straight acting talent without all the goofing’ around.

  9. Get well soon, Sal! Sorry to hear you’ve been struck down by something so ghastly.

    I’m definitely a fan of Mr Carrey. A excellent serious actor. and when he is funny in the comedies , he is hilarious.

    • Thanks, KFD. Fingers crossed for those little penicillin fellers, lining up abbaubar the strep….

      I think in a well- judged comedy, not too stooped, whacky or sentimental, he can be as sharp as a knife.

  10. I find him a bit much. I saw him in something where he acted straight, and well, but I was waiting the whole time.for the gurning etc and it made the whole thing very unsettling.

  11. I thought his acting in A Christmas Carol (2009) was first class..restrained and true to the flavour of Dickens’ book.
    I also think he is similar in many respects to Robin Williams…sometimes too over the top but capable of great performances in the right role.

  13. Away from the movie arena there is a really good episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with him. It quite changed my view of him and I’m much more prepared to give him slack than I was. He’s a very talented artist (canvas and paint variety) and clearly obsessed by it.

    And I don’t understand the hate for Dumb & Dumber either but then again comedy is subjective innit.

    • Good point re RW’s maudlin look. When he played a character who was far removed from anything maudlin, he could be very good indeed. 24-Hour Photo is a case in point, as is his turn in Insomnia – that was the first time I’d seen him be quite straight and dour, and he’s great at it. Very cold and creepy, with a real darkness at the centre.

      That said, his improv comedy is probably what he was best at, although I always found it a bit exhausting – a man with too many ideas all trying to get out at the same time. A problem that some of Jim Carrey’s early characters also seemed to have (to return to the OP).

      • I think that’s a very good point re early stage of career, nervously trying to get all your ideas out at once. Ace Ventura, The Mask – it felt like he was showing (off) everything, as if he should be applauded for being so versatile. Maybe why VV never watched another film?

        Because he burst to public attention so brightly with this early films, that’s maybe why he’s associated just with them? A few more yards into his career and he send to have developed the confidence to not need to try too hard.

    • Thanks, JG. It feels like I am on the mend.

      I don’t know what it is about RW. I wonder if it’s because he’s a very US comedian – heart on his sleeve, emotions out in full, everything in display – which is in many ways the antithesis of the English style of comedy.

  16. I’ve loathed him in some roles – but TBH, it’s been in comedies of a kind that I wouldn’t have enjoyed even if someone else had played the part, but he certainly didn’t help the case.
    But I’ve also appreciated him in a few other roles (Truman Show, The Grinch – I think it helped that his face was so heavily masked – Earth Girls Are Easy, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Lemony Snicket’s…) where he either played it fairly straight (as much as he can) or his physicality was an asset to that part.
    I hated Eternal Sunshine… but that wasn’t his fault. Cable Guy and I Love You Philip Morris were IIRC uncomfortable to watch but I don’t remember if it had to do with Carrey being too much Carrey or if it was the roles or the plot – I watched them ages ago.

    To me he’s too clown-like in his comedy, and I can’t stand clowns. I much prefer comics with a dignified stillness as their baseline, then the smallest look or twitch can create such a satisfying and unexpected explosion of laughter, which the gigantic gestures don’t really do for me in the same way – there are exeptions of course but Jim Carrey isn’t usually one of them.

  18. I think I like him but he’s just TOO much. Every tic and shout and aside blare out constantly in his straight comedies.

    Now and again within that onslaught a little real laugh will stand out. A look, a glance, a well timed line. ‘Bruce Almghty’ is dire but has one short and I believe ad-libbed sequence. Bruce, an ambitious but frustrated newscaster is reduced to interviewing an old lady on the Maid Of The Mist at Niagra. ‘Well, here I am with Katherine Hepburn’s mother…’

    (This is also the movie that broke Steve Carrell. His possessed newscaster sequence)

    His voice work on Horton Hears a Hoo, along with Steve Carrell again, was delightful. My daughter still loves that one..

  19. I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed that your doctor’s visit goes well tomorrow, Sal.

    Honestly! I take my hat off to you @Salwarpe.

    There you are ill in bed, and you kick off (and then curate!) a very entertaining thread about the Dumb and Dumber Hitmaker.

    Talk about making the best of a bad situation.

    It’s not at all surprising that a lot of people are not so keen on JC. People are far more likely to dislike a comedy actor than a more straightforward drama thespian.

    Humour is such a personal business. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.

    Often when I’m crying with laugher and pissing myself, Mrs KFD, for example is stony-faced.and can’t see the joke at all.

    • Thanks, KFD. It’s a firm of distraction and therapy, I guess. Like right now, I just woke up with a sudden jolt of pain and am thinking of you and your content as I wait for the 2 Neurofen to kick in!

      I take a lot of the articulately-stated points above well about Carrey’s clowning being off-putting. After all, I started off in the first comment, bitching about The Mask. I so understand VVs view that that was enough and no more.

      But I made the observation last night that it was made in 1994, the year Carrey ‘broke out’ as a lead, a year with Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber, as well – a triple bill I would avoid at all costs.

      Things, as they say, can only get better. As indeed they did, in 1997. With Liar Liar. (I wonder if that title gave an unintentional foreshadowing for the hubristic overreach of another public figure with great charisma and bulletproof self-belief who came to power that year?)

      Humour is indeed a personal thing, KFD. Though making apple pie beds for and setting banana skins under the feet of your Missus does seem a cruel way to get your comic kicks.

  20. I liked Yes Man, the film loosely based on the Danny Wallace book. The presence of co-star Zooey Deschanel (the ‘She’ in She & Him) might have had something to do with it, though.

    Get well soon, Sal.

  21. I think we’re done here now. Thanks for all your thoughts on Jim, including some film tips, that I hope to follow up on.

    Just avoiding those 1994 films, I don’t think he’s got a bad legacy of movies.

    And thanks for all the good wishes for my health. I think I’m on the mend, and in a couple of days will be out of enough pain to be in my feet again.

    Have a great week everyone!

  22. “Jim Carrey – what do you think?”

    Until seeing this blog thread a few weeks back, his existence did not enter my consciousness at all.
    The space in my thoughts that he might have occupied is still almost entirely occupied by other things.

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