Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

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This article is about the film. For the TV series, see Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (TV series).
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective poster
Directed by Tom Shadyac
Produced by James G. Robinson
Written by Jack Bernstein (story and screenplay)
Tom Shadyac
Jim Carrey (screenplay)
Starring Jim Carrey
Courteney Cox
Sean Young
Tone Loc
Dan Marino
Music by Ira Newborn
Cinematography Julio Macat
Editing by Don Zimmerman
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) February 4, 1994
Running time 86 min.
Country USA
Language English
Budget $11 million[1]
Followed by Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and starring Jim Carrey. It co-stars Courteney Cox, Tone Loc, Sean Young, among others. Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino also portrays himself in a major role.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Ace (Jim Carrey), disguised as a delivery man, steals a kidnapped dog from its brusque, unhygenic, violent captor and restores it to its owner, a gorgeous woman who proceeds to seduce Ace in lieu of monetary payment.

Ace himself lives in an apartment, which he retains by deceiving his landlord Mr. Shikadance. Many animals of several species live with Ace, who shares an affinity with them. Because Shikadance forbids pets, Ace conceals them, going to great lengths to do so.

At Dolphin Stadium, the mascot of the Miami Dolphins, Snowflake, is kidnapped in the middle of the night, two weeks before the team is due to play the Super Bowl. Mr. Riddle, the team's owner, knows how superstitious football players can be, and believes they will lose the Super Bowl unless Snowflake is returned. He gives his Head of Operations, Roger Podacter (Troy Evans), and Chief Publicist, Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox Arquette), until Super Bowl Sunday to find Snowflake, or they will both be fired. On the recommendation of the team secretary, Melissa contacts Ace, seeking help. Ace meets Melissa, who explains that Snowflake is a rare bottlenose dolphin who is trained to perform football-themed tricks. After meeting Podacter, Ace enters the dolphin tank in search of clues. Shortly afterward reporters show up for coverage of Snowflakes new tricks. Ace gets out of the tank and acts as an unusually crazy trainer "Heinz Getwellvet" to shoo them away to the press conference going on (This part of the scene was unusually removed in the new Ace Ventura DVD combo release, even though it was in the original VHS. Warner Bros. claims it was simply the difference between the "Original" and "Theatrical" versions of the movie. Surprisingly they did not even add it, as well as other scenes, in as Extra deleted scenes, and no "Theatrical" DVD release is planned. It is thought by many to be one of the funniest parts of the movie.) Ace then searches the filter and finds his first clue: a rare cut orange amber.

At the police station, Ace learns from his friend in the police force, Emilio, that Sergeant Aguado is working on the Snowflake case. The fearsome Lt. Lois Einhorn (Sean Young) storms in, warning Ace to avoid the Snowflake case altogether.

Ace visits his ecologist friend Woodstock, whose lair is a locked chamber under a concert stage (where there is a Cannibal Corpse concert going on), to find out who would have enough money to purchase equipment used to capture and hold a dolphin. The prime suspect is a billionaire Ronald Camp, who is throwing a lavish party. Ace, accompanied by Melissa, attends the party.

Ace, searching, finds a large tank full of water, but discovers that it contains a great white shark. On his way out of the party (after falling in the tank), he eyes a ring on Camp's finger and discovers it has stones in it similar to the one he found in the tank. The stone, a rare trianglar-shaped amber piece, had fallen from a 1984 AFC Championship Ring. Camp wore an identical ring that night, but it was not missing a stone. Ace, trying to find whose ring is missing a stone, he finds ways of making the players show him their rings. The first time Ace was teasing a player by almost ramming his car into the player's so the player would give him the middle finger, and Ace saw that the player's ring wasn't missing a stone. He would keep track of which player he had seen with a picture of the 1984 Dolphins roster, and he would X out any player he had seen.

Melissa and Ace learn that Roger Podacter is dead. The police believe it to be a case of suicide. 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 the apartment manager entered; because the door is made from double-paned, soundproof glass, Podacter's neighbor could not have heard the scream if Podacter had committed suicide and closed the door himself. Instead, he was thrown off the balcony, whereas the killer closed the door on the way out. Ace humiliates Einhorn with this revelation and is driven away as a result.

While trying to figure out how Podacter's death is connected to Snowflake, Ace learns of a Dolphins' player named Ray Finkle, whom Ace has not investigated. Melissa explains that Ray Finkle was a star kicker who was added to the team after the photograph was taken that Ace has used as a reference. Finkle had 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 received an AFC Championship ring; however his contract was not renewed.

Ace drives down to Finkle's hometown to meet the football player's parents at their home, which is defaced with anti-Finkle graffiti. Finkle's mother is senile, and his father is a suspicious, shotgun-wielding old man who confides to Ace that his son was put into a mental institution after his career ended. Finkle's room contains a hate shrine to player Dan Marino, consisting of cardboard stand-ins and photos of the football star, the words "DIE DAN DIE" scrawled in red, and knives sticking out of Marino's face. A film projector in the middle of the room plays recorded footage of the field goal that Finkle missed. Finkle blames Marino for the incident, believing he was holding the football inaccurately when Finkle kicked it. Ace realizes that Dan Marino is probably about to be kidnapped and alerts Melissa to send help, but is unable to prevent the kidnapping.

Ace returns to Miami and lays out Finkle's motive to Lt. Einhorn. The hypothesis is that Finkle kidnapped Snowflake because the dolphin was assigned Finkle's jersey number 5 and taught how to kick a field goal, which Finkle took as an insult. In light of this evidence, Einhorn suddenly starts attempting to seduce Ace; Ace turns her down after feeling something "digging into" his hip. He assumes it to be Einhorn's gun.

Searching for Ray Finkle, Ace enters Shady Acres, the mental hospital in Tampa from which Finkle escaped. Ace searches the storage room and finds a box of Finkle's belongings. Looking through it, he finds a newspaper article stating that Lois Einhorn was a missing hiker whose body was never recovered. Ace immediately calls Emilio, who looks through Einhorn's desk, finding a love letter to Einhorn from Podacter. While trying to determine how Finkle and Einhorn were connected, Ace's dog puts his head down on a picture of Finkle, whereupon the dog's hair alters the image of Finkle's head, so that he looks like a woman. Looking at it, Ace realizes that Einhorn is actually Ray Finkle posing as the deceased Lois Einhorn, and that the "gun" digging into Ace's hip was actually an erection. Now knowing that he was seduced by a man, Ace is shellshocked; vomiting, cleaning his mouth via exaggerated methods, burning the clothes he wore during the homosexual encounter, and continues to purge himself until he is exhausted.

Ace follows Einhorn to a warehouse by the docks. After knocking out Einhorn's henchmen, he finds Dan Marino tied up, but is himself caught by Einhorn. When the cops arrive to arrest Ace (on Einhorn's orders), Melissa and Emilio stop them. Ace explains Finkle's motive and that Einhorn is actually Finkle. No one believes him; therefore Ace attempts to find proof by (unsuccessfully) attempting to remove the lieutenant's hair, thinking it was a wig, then ripping open her blouse to reveal she has perfect female breasts, then ripping off her skirt to reveal she is in perfect figure of a swimsuit model. But Einhorn had tucked his genitalia between his legs, and which can no longer be hidden, because her clothes had been ripped off. Marino notices this from his vantage point, and alerts Ace of it. Ace turns Einhorn around and reveals that Einhorn is a man. The assembled squad are disgusted. Einhorn makes one last attempt to kill Ace, but is thrown into Snowflake's makeshift tank and exposed as the owner of the ring with the missing stone. Einhorn is then arrested.

Marino is returned to the team in time for the Super Bowl, as is Snowflake. While sharing a tender moment at the game with Melissa during which they kiss , Ace sees an albino pigeon, whom he had been chartered to find, and tries to catch it. The Philadelphia Eagles' mascot, Polly scares the bird away, enraging Ace. The audience takes notice and the announcer displays Ace on the JumboTron, reading aloud Ace's dedication and love for "all animals" while Ace is punching the headpiece of the Eagles' mascot. Ace, seeing the camera, strikes a pose.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reaction

In spite of Jim Carrey's nomination for a Razzie for Worst New Star, the movie became a huge box-office success grossing over $72 million at the box office on a $11 million budget and helped boost Carrey's career, thrusting him into the Hollywood limelight and paving the way for several other successful projects in the future such as The Mask and Dumb & Dumber.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • 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 hoodlum's buttocks 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 47-yard game winning field goal in Super Bowl XXV.[2] 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.[3]
  • The movie incorrectly referred to the 1984 Super Bowl as "Super Bowl XVII" instead of the correct "Super Bowl XIX". Coincidently, the Dolphins also played in Super Bowl XVII, but lost to the Washington Redskins, 27-17.
  • 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.
  • 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 two 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. The game used was Super Bowl XIX when the Dolphins lost to the 49ers.
  • 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 wavy hairdo, sporty sunglasses, large 1970's sedan, and occasional tough-guy attitude.
  • Jim Carrey opted to put his favorite 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". However, due to the explicit lyrics in the song, television captions shows then-lead singer Chris Barnes singing "grr!" over and over. The band is also incorrectly listed in the credits as "Cannibal Corpses", and that they are a "thrasher band".
  • In a deleted scene, Jim Carrey is onstage with Cannibal Corpse singing Hammer Smashed Face instead of Chris Barnes.
  • When Ace deduces that the murderer is a man disguised as a woman, the song "Crying Game" sung by Boy George begins to play.
  • The name of the mental institution in the film "Shady Acres" is a play on director Tom Shadyac's surname.
  • In the syndication version, Aguado asks how Ace is going to solve the murder of a bug he squashed. Ace replies that the motive behind the murder is because the killer (Aguado) saw the size of the bug's "gerkin" ("dick" in the real movie) and became jealous. They also cut out Ace's comment about porking Aguado's wife. There is another scene where Ace goes to a bar in Collier County. Any major curses were censored or toned down.
  • Ace's catchphrase, "Alrighty then!" was nominated for a position on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes but failed to appear on the final list.
  • At the end of the film, the mascot of the Philadelphia Eagles, Polly, shoos off the albino pigeon that Ace had been looking for. However, this was on the Miami Dolphins sideline even though Polly was on the wrong side of the field.
  • When being berated by the police Ace says "I admit I was the second gunman" this is a reference to the conspiracy therory that there was second gunman in the JFK assassination.

[edit] 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.

Ace possesses extreme vanity, extraordinary powers of observation, and equally great powers of deduction. He has a tendency to use foul language and to make vulgar jokes, as in the scene where he manually moves the halves of his rump to simulate a speaking mouth. He often draws complex, correct conclusions, but does not reveal them until a critical moment. He is sexually promiscuous, talkative, dedicated, and clever.

[edit] Cultural references

  • 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".
  • Grindcore band Tower Of Rome have a song entitled "Does He Have A Name, Or Should I Call Him Lawyer?"
  • 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.

[edit] Box office

  • Opening weekend U.S. gross: $12,115,105
  • Total U.S. box office gross: $72,217,396.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Commentary from Director Tom Shadyac on Ace Ventura: Pet Detective DVD
  2. ^ Carucci, Vic (2006). No. 7: Norwood envisioned kick as a winner. SuperBowl.com. NFL Enterprises LLC. Retrieved on 2006-04-01.
  3. ^ Super Bowl XIX. Super Bowl History. About.com. Retrieved on 2006-04-01.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Ace Ventura Series
Films
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective • Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls • Ace Ventura 3
TV Series
Video Game
v • d • e
Films directed by Tom Shadyac

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) • The Nutty Professor (1996) • Liar Liar (1997) • Patch Adams (1998) • Dragonfly (2002) • Bruce Almighty (2003) • Evan Almighty (2007) • Dr. Sensitive (2009)