Jim Carrey shot out of nowhere to become one of the biggest movie stars on the planet in 1994 after Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber were all released within ten months of each other to huge box office success, with the leading man utilizing his whirlwind charisma, rubber-faced antics and penchant for physical comedy to instantly establish himself as a major draw.
The following year, Carrey reprised one of his breakout roles in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, but after that it would be almost two decades until he made another sequel to one of his films when Dumb and Dumber To arrived in 2014. In the meantime, several of his most popular titles got second installments without his involvement, and they were all terrible.
Son of the Mask is regarded as one of the worst movies of the 21st Century, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd was savaged by critics, the $175 million Evan Almighty still ranks as the most expensive comedy ever made and an all-timer of a box office flop, while even Ace Ventura Jr.: Pet Detective was torn apart despite being quietly shuffled onto home video back in 2009.
Making sequels to hit movies without the original cast members is hardly a new phenomenon, but making sequels to Jim Carrey films without Jim Carrey was always going to result in failure. He was the star of the show and the projects in question were almost entirely marketed and sold on his presence and the comic connotations that come with it, so it’s little wonder people were nowhere near as interested in seeing the stories continue without the main driving force and selling point being present.
As ScreenRant explains:
Carrey is an extremely unique comedic performer, with a manic energy and boundless charisma that few others can compete with. This is shown by how much his roles, and the films he stars in, are tailor-made for him. They’re designed to accentuate Carrey’s positives to the nth degree, and so much of what makes The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Bruce Almighty work comes down to Carrey’s performances. Even someone as acclaimed as Steve Carell is still a very different actor to Carrey, and trying to slot him into the template Bruce Almighty established just didn’t work, especially since Evan Baxter’s switch from jerk to nice guy didn’t make such sense. Yet, when a movie is built specifically for Carell to lead, he nails it.
Tell us, though, which films would you like to see the actor revisit in the future? Let us know down below.
