We're going downtown.
[as James T. Kirk|Captain Kirk from Star Trek|Star Trek] Captain's Log, stardate 23.9, rounded to the... nearest decimal point. We've... traveled back in time to save an ancient species from... total annihilation. SO FAR... no... signs of aquatic life, but I'm GOING to find it. If I have to tear this universe another black hole, I'm going to find it. I've... GOT TO, MISTER!
[as Montgomery Scott|Montgomery Scott] Ajuss can't do it, Captain! I DON'T... HAVE... the POWER!
[as Leonard McCoy|Leonard McCoy] For God's sakes, Jim, I'm a DOCTOR, not a POOL-MAN!
Ahoy, Captain Stubing. How are Gopher and Doc? Permission to come aboard sir?
If I'm not back in five minutes... just wait longer.
[after getting attacked by an shark in the restrooms] Do NOT go in there! WOOOO!
I'm in Psychoville, and Finkle's the mayor.
[to Lt. Einhorn] Whew... now I feel better. 'Course, that might not do any good; you see nobody's missing a porpoise. It's a dolphin that's been taken. The common harbor porpoise has an abrupt snout, pointed teeth and a triangular thoracic fin, while the bottlenose dolphin, or Tursiops truncatus, has an elongated beak, round cone shaped teeth and a serrated dorsal appendage. But I'm sure you already knew that. That's what turns me on about 'cha, your attention to detail.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a 1994 American
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by
Tom ShadyacThomas Peter "Tom" Shadyac is an American comedian, director, screenwriter, and producer. Shadyac, who was the youngest joke-writer ever for comedian Bob Hope, is widely known for writing and directing the films Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, and the...
and starring
Jim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
. It co-stars
Courteney CoxCourteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
,
Tone LocAnthony Terrell Smith , better known by his stage name Tone Lōc, is an American rapper and actor.-Early life and career:...
,
Sean YoungSean Young is an American actress, best known for her performance in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, and No Way Out.-Early life:...
and former
Miami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
quarterbackQuarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Dan MarinoDaniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
.
The film did well at the box office, grossing $107 million worldwide with a budget of $11 million. A sequel was made,
Ace Ventura: When Nature CallsAce Ventura: When Nature Calls is the sequel to Ace Ventura: Pet Detective . Jim Carrey reprises his role as the title character Ace Ventura, a detective who specializes in retrieval of tame or captive animals. This is the only sequel to a film starring Carrey in which Carrey reprised his role...
, as well as an
animated seriesAce Ventura: Pet Detective is an animated television series based on the film of the same name. The series was produced by Morgan Creek Productions and Nelvana for Warner Bros. Studios. It aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997 on CBS...
, which lasted three seasons. The film has a large
cult followingA cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
.
Plot
Ace VenturaAce Ventura is a fictional character, created by screenwriters Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk. Ace was played by Jim Carrey in the films He was voiced by Michael Daingerfield in the animated television series.-Biography:Ace is a...
(
Jim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
) is a
private investigatorA private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
living in
Miami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, who specializes in retrieval of tame or captive animals. Despite the success of his methods, he does not often receive many assignments and therefore cannot pay rent or repair his battered 1970s
Chevrolet Monte CarloThe Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American-made two-door coupe introduced for model year 1970, and manufactured over six generations through model year 2007. It was marketed as a personal-luxury coupe through most of its history, with the last model version being classified as a full-sized coupe...
; whereas his eccentricities make him the laughingstock of the
Metro-Dade Police DepartmentThe Miami-Dade Police Department , formerly known as the Metro-Dade County Police Department , Dade County Public Safety Department and the Dade County Sheriff's Office is a Limited Service County Police Department serving Miami-Dade County, Florida's unincorporated areas, although they have...
.
At Joe Robbie Stadium,
Snowflake a
Bottlenose DolphinBottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...
mascot of the
Miami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, is kidnapped two weeks before the team is due to play in the upcoming
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, whereupon the team's owner Mr. Riddle, believing the team will fear to lose the Super Bowl unless Snowflake is returned, orders his Head of Operations Roger Podacter (
Troy EvansTroy Evans is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Desk Clerk Francis "Frank" Martin in the television drama series ER. He has also appeared in the movies Tiger Cruise , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Under Siege, Teen Wolf, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Black Dahlia and The...
) and Chief Publicist Melissa Robinson (
Courteney CoxCourteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
) to find Snowflake. Ventura is hired to solve the case and discovers his first clue in the form of a rare triangular-cut orange
amberAmber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
stone, which he speculates to have fallen from a 1984 AFC Championship Ring. Ventura then tries to find his culprit by tricking each player who played in this competition into showing their rings; but the attempt fails.
Later, Podacter mysteriously falls to his death from his apartment, which Robinson and Ventura go to investigate. Although Miami Police Lt. Lois Einhorn (
Sean YoungSean Young is an American actress, best known for her performance in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, and No Way Out.-Early life:...
) insists it was suicide, Ventura proves it was murder, embarrassing Einhorn. While trying to find how Podacter's death is connected to Snowflake's disappearance, Ventura learns of a former Dolphins player named Ray Finkle, whom he has not investigated, who had missed the potentially game-winning
field goalA field goal is a general term used in some sports wherein a goal may be scored either during general play or via some sort of free shot...
kick at the end of the Super Bowl XVII, causing the Dolphins to lose to the
San Francisco 49ersThe San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
. After the season, Finkle's contract was not renewed and his reputation was destroyed.
Having discovered Finkle's obsession with fellow-player
Dan MarinoDaniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
, whom Finkle blames for his loss, Ventura is sure Finkle is the culprit, but cannot find him. Ace and Melissa go to a mental hospital in
TampaTâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...
where Finkle was last seen; while under the guise of a mental patient, Ace searches Finkle's belongings and discovers a newspaper article about Lois Einhorn missing, after hours of piecing the evidence together, Ventura realizes that Lt. Lois Einhorn is Finkle in disguise. Poo
Ventura then follows Finkle to an abandoned dock, where he finds a kidnapped Marino and Snowflake. When the police arrive, Finkle orders the cops to shoot Ace, but before they do, Ace tries to expose Finkle but it turns out she is a woman. Dan Marino whispers something to Ace and with this new evidence, he shows everyone Finkle's penis that has been tucked behind very well.
Both Marino and Snowflake return in time for the
Super BowlSuper Bowl XXVII was a football game played on January 31, 1993 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1992 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Dallas Cowboys defeated the American Football Conference champion...
game between the Miami Dolphins and
Philadelphia EaglesThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. At halftime, Ventura spots an albino pigeon earlier sought by himself and attempts to capture it, but is prevented by
SwoopThe mascot Swoop is used to represent various sports organizations in the United States. One of the most notable mascots named Swoop is used by the NFL Football team the Philadelphia Eagles. Various American universities use the name Swoop as their athletic program mascots...
, the Eagles' mascot. Enraged, Ventura beats the mascot and is thanked on the
JumboTronA JumboTron is a large-screen television using technology developed by Sony, typically used in sports stadiums and concert venues to show close-up shots of the event. Although JumboTron is a registered trademark owned by the Sony Corporation, the word jumbotron is often used by the public as a...
for saving Marino and Snowflake.
Cast
- Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
as Ace Ventura
- Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
as Melissa Robinson
- Sean Young
Sean Young is an American actress, best known for her performance in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, and No Way Out.-Early life:...
as Lt. Lois Einhorn/Ray Finkle
- Tone Loc
Anthony Terrell Smith , better known by his stage name Tone Lōc, is an American rapper and actor.-Early life and career:...
as Emilio
- Dan Marino
Daniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
as Himself
- Noble Willingham
Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. was an American television and film actor.-Career:Willingham had appeared in more than thirty feature films, including Harry's War , Up Close and Personal , City Slickers , The Last Boy Scout , City Slickers II , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective , Chinatown...
as Riddle
- Troy Evans
Troy Evans is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Desk Clerk Francis "Frank" Martin in the television drama series ER. He has also appeared in the movies Tiger Cruise , Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Under Siege, Teen Wolf, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Black Dahlia and The...
as Roger Podacter
- Raynor Scheine
Raynor Scheine is an American actor who has appeared in films for three decades dating back to 1979, including My Cousin Vinny and Fried Green Tomatoes. His name is a play on the phrase "rain or shine".-Broadway performances:...
as Woodstock
- Udo Kier
Udo Kier is a German actor, known primarily for his work in horror and exploitation movies.-Early life:...
as Ronald Camp
- Frank Adonis
Frank Adonis , sometimes credited as Frank Martin, is an American film and television actor.-Selected filmography:*The French Connection as Bidder*Eyes of Laura Mars as Sal Volpe...
as Vinnie
- Tiny Ron as Roc
- David Margulies
David Joseph Margulies is an American actor.Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Runya , a nurse and museum worker, and Harry David Margulies, a lawyer. Margulies graduated from City College of New York. Immediately afterward, he made his stage debut in the off-Broadway play Golden 6...
as Doctor
- John Capodice as Aguado
- Judy Clayton as Martha Mertz
- Bill Zuckert
Bill Zuckert was an American actor. He began his career in 1941 in radio and lent his voice to hundreds of dramas over the next two decades. He served in World War II as a member of the naval construction unit Seabees...
as Mr. Finkle
- Alice Drummond
Alice Drummond is an American actress of stage and television.Drummond was born as Alice E. Ruyter in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, daughter of Sarah Irene , a secretary, and Arthur Ruyter, an auto mechanic. She graduated from Pembroke College in 1950.She played Nurse Jackson on the TV series Dark...
as Mrs. Finkle
- Rebecca Ferratti
Rebecca Michelle Ferratti is an actress, model, and dancer. She has worked in over 25 movies. She has been a dancer in many music videos and has posed in many magazines, including Playboy...
as Sexy Woman
- Mark Margolis
Mark Margolis is an American actor who has been making films since 1976.Margolis went to Temple University briefly before moving to New York City, where he studied drama with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio...
as Mr. Shickadance
- Don Shula
Donald Francis "Don" Shula is a former American football cornerback and coach.He is best known as coach of the Miami Dolphins, the team he led to two Super Bowl victories, and to the National Football League's only perfect season. Shula was named 1993 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated....
as Himself
- Scott Mitchell as Miami Dolphins Player
- Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band from Buffalo, New York. Formed in 1988, the band has released eleven studio albums, one box set, and one live album...
as themselves
- Nosey (Miami Seaquarium
The Miami Seaquarium is a oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States and is located near downtown Miami. It is the longest operating oceanarium in the United States. In addition to the marine mammals, the Miami Seaquarium also...
, FloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
) as Snowflake the dolphin
Box office
Ace Ventura grossed $12,115,105 in 1,750 theaters in its first week. When it stopped showing in theaters in the US, the total gross was $72,217,396. It went on to gross $35,000,000 internationally. The total box office gross worldwide was $107,217,396.
Reception
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective received mixed reviews. It holds a 45% rating on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 51 reviews. However, it was much more popular with the general public, making back over six times its budget at the U.S. box office and embedding itself, the Ventura character, and his catch-phrases in pop culture. Along with
The MaskThe Mask is a 1994 American superhero comedy film based on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. This film was directed by Chuck Russell, and produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and New Line Cinema, and originally released to movie theatres on July 29, 1994 through New Line...
and
Dumb and Dumber, the film is widely credited with launching the career of actor Jim Carrey, who was nominated for the 1994
MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic PerformanceThis is a following list of the MTV Movie Award winners and nominees for Best Comedic Performance.-References:...
.The film's popularity spawned a 1995 sequel,
Ace Ventura: When Nature CallsAce Ventura: When Nature Calls is the sequel to Ace Ventura: Pet Detective . Jim Carrey reprises his role as the title character Ace Ventura, a detective who specializes in retrieval of tame or captive animals. This is the only sequel to a film starring Carrey in which Carrey reprised his role...
, with Carrey returning in the lead role.
The film has been noted as
sexistSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
,
transphobicTransphobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards transsexualism and transsexual or transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender...
, and
homophobicHomophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
for its depiction of Ray Finkle as Lois Einhorn.
Julia SeranoJulia Serano is a transsexual American writer, spoken-word performer, trans activist, and biologist. Serano currently lives in Oakland, California and is the author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity...
cited the film as an example of the transphobic trope of "deceptive transsexuals" in the media.
Allusions
- Ray Finkle's missed kick is loosely based on Scott Norwood
Scott Allan Norwood is a former American football placekicker in the NFL who played for the Buffalo Bills. Norwood was an integral part of its offense during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and kicked in Buffalo's first two Super Bowl appearances...
's missed game winner in Super Bowl XXVSuper Bowl XXV was an American football game played on January 27, 1991 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1990 regular season. The National Football Conference Champion New York Giants defeated the American Football Conference ...
. In reality, the 49ers defeated Miami easily in Super Bowl XIXSuper Bowl XIX was an American football game played on January 20, 1985 at Stanford Stadium, on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, California, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1984 regular season...
, 38-16, not by one point as depicted in the film. They lost Super Bowl XVII as well, but to the Washington RedskinsThe Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
.
- Upon Ace's discovery of Einhorn's true identity, the song 'Crying Game'
"The Crying Game" is a song written by Geoff Stephens. It was first released by Dave Berry in July 1964. It reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart. Then-unknown session guitarist Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan played guitar in this song.-Song history:...
can be heard, an obvious reference to the eponymous filmThe Crying Game is a 1992 psychological thriller drama film written and directed by Neil Jordan. The film explores themes of race, gender, nationality, and sexuality against the backdrop of the Irish Troubles...
.
- At Ron Camp's party, the Theme from Mission: Impossible
"Theme from Mission: Impossible" was the theme tune of the TV series Mission: Impossible . The theme was written and composed by Lalo Schifrin and has since gone on to appear in several other works of the Mission: Impossible franchise, including the 1988 TV series, the film series and the video...
plays as Ace begings to explore the grounds of the estate.
- Snowflake the dolphin is based on the 60s Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
mascot FlipperFlipper was a mascot for the Miami Dolphins from 1966 to 1968. He was situated in a fish tank in the open end of the Orange Bowl, and would jump in the tank when a touchdown or field goal was scored. Flipper was removed from the stadium after 1968 to save costs.-Trivia:* In the movie Ace Ventura:...
.
- When Ace investigates Roger Podacter's death, he admits defeat when he apparently has no evidence that Podacter's death was a murder instead of a suicide. As he walks off, he dramatically stops in his tracks and utters the phrase "Oh... there is just one more thing..." before presenting his evidence. That phrase, and the mannerisms leading to it is a direct reference to Columbo, in which the titular character is famous for uttering the phrase when he confirms his suspicion on the suspect he interrogates.
- At Ron Camp's Party when Ace discovers a shark tank he is pushed back and forth by the shark, a reference to Jaws
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
.
In popular culture
- In Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, the titular character suggests sending a client to Ace after hearing that the case involves strange animals.
- Progressive Metal band The Fall of Troy
The Fall of Troy was an American progressive math rock trio from Mukilteo, Washington. The trio consisted of Thomas Erak , Andrew Forsman and Frank Ene...
have a song titled "Laces out, Dan" on their debut album.
- In the World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
dungeon of Blackrock Descent there is a character named Finkle Einhorn, a reference to the character in the movie. This character also is tied into a quest line involving a the dungeon Blackrock Caverns.
- In The Office episode "New Boss", Pam says "I can tell Michael's mood by which comedy routine he chooses to do—the more infantile, the more upset he is—and he just skipped the Ace Ventura talking butt thing. He never skips it".