Sixty years for Jim: These are Jim Carrey's best performances

From the breakthrough in "Ace Ventura" to the prophecy of "Truman's Show," from the humor of "Stupid Without a Break" to the tragedies of "Man on the Moon."

The big roles of Jim Carrey will be celebrating sixty next week

Avner Shavit

14/01/2022

Friday, 14 January 2022, 00:15

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Trailer for the movie "Sonic the Hedgehog" (Film Forum)

May have lost his power, but still holds a tremendous resume.

Curry (Photo: AP, Peter Kramer)

Next week, Tuesday 17.1, Jim Carrey will celebrate Sixty Winters. For us, this is an opportunity to go back ten years, to an article in which we rated his ten best performances at the time, re-examine it and update it.

Has anything changed since then? Yes and no. No, because it has not been a particularly fruitful decade for Carrie, for a simple reason. He is first and foremost a film actor, and it has not been the best decade in Hollywood history, certainly for those who do not excel in comic books, and it is interesting to note that the veteran star has never shone in this world. "Batman Forever" starring him in 1995 is considered one of the worst episodes in the Batman movie series, and "Kick-Ass 2" starring him from 2013 was negligible.

But Carrie has nevertheless managed to leave a mark in the past decade, largely thanks to non-feature film projects. He returned to television, where he began his journey, and the result was the esteemed "childishness." He also starred in the docu-film "Jim and Andy", which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and completed the gradual change in its image: from a comedy star to a wide audience, which received fat checks, broke box office records and was one of the icons of Hollywood in the 1990s. A likable character in the media, considered a symbol of commitment to roles.

The Canadian star has experienced these ten years of despair - not only the "Kick-S2" already mentioned, but also the "wonderful Brett Wonderstone" who could also be called "the forgotten Brett Wonderstone";

The unsuccessful tenure of Joe Biden in "Saturday Night Live";

And long periods that Ben was completely off the radar.

However, he also had more beautiful moments, including those that have already been mentioned and those that we will expand on further.

In the first week of the new year he also once again managed to reinvent himself surprisingly, when he narrated the character of a fictitious DJ on his son's new album, De Weekend.

When asked why he chose him, De Weekend explained that he was the one who inspired him to work in this field in the first place, and that "The Mask" is his first cinematic childhood memory.

This private memory is also the collective memory of all the boys and girls of the nineties, and the round date is an opportunity to dive into it and once again choose the great roles of Carrie.

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To the full article

10. "Sonic Movie"

Moments after the start of the decade and just before the start of the Corona, this hit, which managed to remove the curse over cinematic adaptations of video games and end the longest cinematic drought in Carrie's career, was released.

He played the mad scientist who chases the hedgehog after whom the film is named, and turned out to be the perfect casting for the character of the mad genius.

Is this really one of Carrie's ten greatest roles?

Is he really bigger than "the biggest Bruce of them all", for example?

Not sure, but it faithfully represents an aspect that cannot be ignored in the actor's career.

In most cases Carrie played the character the audience identifies with;

But here, as in "Lemonie Snicket" and several other films, he has proven that he has the power to get into the bad guy's skin - and do it well.

How good he is as the bad guy.

Jim Carrey in "Sonic: The Movie" (Photo: Film Forum)

9. "Childish"

When few watched the "Kidding" series.

Whoever still tried, discovered a sensitive and eccentric piece that enjoyed the special expression of Michelle Gondry, centered on Jim Carrey as Mr. (Jeff) Pickles, a sort of contemporary version of the beloved child idol Mr. Rogers.

Carrie played him in a truly multi-layered way, a kind of delicate play in his image as a comedian with an elastic face alongside being an artist with a bizarre poetic soul.

In doing so he conveyed so wonderfully Jeff's built-in weirdness and the immense sadness he was trying to alleviate following his son's death and separation from his wife.

Carrie instilled a lot of humanity in the strange world that Gondry created, and helped make "My Childhood" one of the special and touching series of the previous decade (Ido Yeshayahu)

One of the most touching series of the previous decade.

From "My Childhood" (Photo: PR)

8. "The Mask"

The comedic fantasy in which Carrie played an average man putting his hands on a mask that completely changes his shape and character was recorded as his first film whose revenue crossed the $ 100 million mark.

She also revealed to the world Cameron Diaz, who has become an equally big star.

But the real value of the "mask" lies in the fact that it allowed Carrie to fully show for the first time his absolute flexibility and his miraculous control of the facial muscles.

It was then discovered that he was capable of starring not only in comedies but also in fantasy and action films, making him a perfect server tool in the hands of commercial Hollywood cinema.

Mask Gif - Burping (Photo: Giphy)

7. "Stupid without a break"

"The Mask" was a great comedic fantasy, but there were a lot of better movies of its kind. In contrast, "Stupid Without a Break" starring Carrie and Jeff Daniels still stands in the forefront of the finest pee-poo comedies ever made. As the name implies, he is a masterpiece of endless stupidity, and the comedian made sure to pour into him every cabin of distortion that landed on the world.

In addition, Carrie also revealed in "Stupid Without a Break" his ability to embody the average person, one that evokes instant sympathy among viewers. This virtue will serve him well later, when it develops from such silly farces into extremely serious dramas.

Eventually, "Stupid Without a Break" became a movie series. In 2003, a rather new and strange chapter appeared in it, which went back and described how the heroes got to know each other. The Farley brothers, who created the original film, were not involved in this production, nor were Carrie and Daniels. All of these returned to stupidity only in 2014, with the official pledge, which turned out to be funny and even beautiful and exciting,But did not receive sufficient appreciation.

6. "Ace Ventura"

First of all, this successful detective comedy deserves high place on the list because it provided Carrie with his breakout role.

Beyond that, keep in mind that its effect at the time was so strong, because it allowed the comedian to burst into a storm and display energies that moviegoers in America did not recognize like her in those years, certainly not on the part of a white-skinned actor.

Therefore, "Ace Ventura" not only discovered the world of Carrie, but also began to shape his unique cinematic persona.

He has upgraded, thickened and refined it over the years, but the foundation is here.

Besides, "Ace Ventura" was and remains a brilliant film, with some of the funniest passages in Carrie's career.

The pledge came quickly and suffered much slander, but was entertaining as well.

5. "Eternal sun in a clear mind"

It is believed that the many fans of the film will resent its relatively low place on the list, but perhaps they will calm down in light of the following explanation.

Whether you adore "Eternal Sun", dislike it or are indifferent to it, it must be admitted that positively or negatively, its qualities are dictated by director Michelle Gondry and especially screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.

If another actor from Curry had played the heartbroken man who seeks to erase his ex from memory, would the result have been fundamentally different?

Given the dominance of the two creators and the nature of the role, it's hard to believe so.

In most of Carrie's roles, for better or worse, his personality was a crucial factor in the film, and this is not the case here.

Therefore, even if we accept the assumption that "Eternal Sun" is one of the prominent milestones in his career, and even if we acknowledge that it is one of the most beloved and influential works in which he has starred, this is not necessarily his greatest performance.

Yes, only Thursday.

From "Eternal sun in a clear mind" (Photo: imdb)

4. "Cable Guy"

After a streak of mass successes in the "Ace Ventura", "The Mask" and "Stupid Without a Break" series, Jim Carrey was ready to go a step further and start rioting.

He did so in Ben Stiller's dark comedy, which the American audience was not ready for at the time, but over time became a cult.

In a sense, the cult status given to the film was justified.

Carrie did use the character of a cable technician taking over the life of a middle-class man to crumble the foundations of yuppie society.

If one accepts the interpretation that this character is in fact the alter-ego of the square yuppie, then one can see in "Cable Guy" an even more brilliant and complex film.

However, the mythology that developed around the film slightly inflated its value.

It's a fine piece, but Curry's had better.

3. "Liar, liar"

The high position may seem excessive or provocative, so we'll explain.

All in all, the most prominent motif in Carrie's career was starring in huge commercial hits, so it's only worthwhile to put such a film on the podium.

If you still want the chosen box office to be a sophisticated and witty product with subversive dimensions, then "Liar Liar" best suits the requirements.

In his role as a cunning lawyer and a pathological liar forced to start telling only the truth, Carrie exposed all the hypocrisy of American capitalism, and did so with his usual strengths.

He has perfectly combined here his skills to be an all-American hero and his abilities to despise this all-American, so that a "lying liar" ultimately earns his place by right and not by grace.

2. "Man on the Moon"

Is there another actor, at least in the United States of the late 1990s, who was able to play the eccentric comedian Andy Kaufman, peace be upon him? It's hard to believe that anyone other than Curry was able to do this, thus recreate the madness that the legendary entertainer had in his eyes, and charge the character with enough emotion to squeeze tears out of viewers' eyes.

The combination of Carrie's acting display and the directing work of Milos Furman, a filmmaker who has always followed the exploits of outsiders, has made "Man on the Moon" a funny, fascinating and equally touching biography. By the time the star had not received an Oscar nomination even for his performance here, it was already clear that the academy would never praise him again. But that does not change the fact that this is one of his great roles, and in a more normal and less rich career he would surely have taken first place in such a parade.

Nearly two decades after the film's release, the docu "Jim Andy" (available on Netflix) came out, documenting, among other things, the behind-the-scenes of its production.

He illustrated the commitment and absoluteness that Carrie demonstrated for the role, recorded as one of the most impressive portraits of an actor's work, and further commemorated the place of "Man on the Moon" in the canon - not only of his star, but of contemporary cinema in general.

1. "The Truman Show"

There were doubts about the other places in this parade, but for a moment there was no doubt which Carrie performance would take first place - this one in "Truman's Show", in which he played the man who discovers that all his life it was not a TV show, and that he was the only one unaware For that. There are two reasons for the special status of the film. First of all, he foresaw, and only a few years away, what would become one of the most prominent cultural phenomena of today - the age of reality. There are few contemporary cinematic works that can be given such credit.

But as said in the case of "Eternal Sunshine," it's not enough for the film to be big to star in this parade, Carrie's performance should also be meaningful, and that's the case with "Truman's Show." Another actor could not thus get into the shoes of the average person, and at the same time demonstrate the physical flexibility that would reflect the astonishment, embarrassment and confusion that grips him in light of the discovery of his place in the world, as well as his vigorous attempts to elude him.

More relevant than ever.

Jim Carrey in "The Truman Show" (Photo: Netflix)

In this film, the star has done better than ever to do what he has always excelled at throughout his career - being an energy bomb that expresses the emotions that every person feels, but is unable to externalize.

That's why we loved his movies so much, that's why, even while he's celebrating fifty winters, it's still not a miracle for them.

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