Last Updated on October 6, 2021 by
Jim Carrey is known for acting in special roles that means acting crazy and very special. His characters are sure to make you laugh, and in this post, we share 10 of the best movies starring Jim Carrey.
Ever since the big breakthrough year 1994, the Canadian has amused, shocked and upset his audience. Not mainly in wild slapstick comedies but also in more thought-provoking dramas. He has proven himself able to act both more serious roles but also very crazy characters. Without further ado, let’s dig in.
1. Man on the Moon
The biography of Kaufman’s notorious and controversial comedian, mainly the USA, meant another successful change of genre and collaboration with Milos Forman for Carrey. The star – himself a huge fan of Kaufman – went completely into the role and refused to be called his real name during the recording. He embraced Kaufman’s behavior with eerie precision and managed to find a sad man behind the imitation of the showman. Resulted in a Golden Globe.
2.The Mask
Success comedy from Carrey’s breakthrough years proved that his comic book-like mimicry works well together with special effects and also that his ability for improvisation can result in first-class entertainment. He also made use of blood ribbons for inspiration – he based his role figure on his dad and used a banana yellow suit that his mom sewed for him for a standup show.
3. Pet detective
The movie that put Carrey in the middle of the movie world’s humor map is still a 1990s classic with absurd but contagious humor. And no wonder that – Carrey was involved in developing the voice and tone of the crazy animal detective and based much of his behavior (including the famous “Alrighty then!”) On his character Overly Confident Gay Man from the sketch series “In Living Color”.
4. The Cable Guy
Ben Stiller’s comedy about a psychotic and pensive cable installer is far from among Carrey’s best films and a little too dark for his more easily tuned fans. But Carrey, after all, delivers and the combination of his usual humorous adultery and an unpleasant, intimidating character creates a scary psychopath that makes Glenn Close in “Dangerous Connection” look like a schoolgirl.
5. Batman Forever
Everyone from Robin Williams to Michael Jackson had originally been envisioned for the coveted role of The Riddle in the third film about the Leather Lap before Carrey – who impressed director Joel Schumacher with “Ace Ventura” – was given the role. Carrey’s intense oversight suited the mad scientist superbly and was a grateful counterpart to Tommy Lee Jones’s more classically villainous Two-Face.
6. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
The choice of Carrey as the greedy, sneaky Count Olaf from Daniel Handler’s books feels obviously afterward, with his cranky mimicry and spotty play. His revelation created an interesting, poignant contrast in an otherwise unusually dark children’s story about three siblings who are threatened to be cheated on money – and killed – by their guardian. A highlight is a masked Carrey flirting with an eccentric Meryl Streep.
7. I Love You Phillip Morris
Carrey countered Hollywood’s homophobia by taking a break from more commercial comedy and playing a real, gay impostor who devoted himself to scam to maintain a luxurious existence for himself and his title love. In addition to his usual slapstick, the role involved an unusually tender and romantic side, not to mention a gold worthy chemistry with opponent Ewan McGregor.
8. Truman Show
Carrey’s first dramatic lead role (which also gave him his first Golden Globe) was a well-chosen satire with reliable Peter Weir in the register. The star’s humorous tone matched well with the grown man who, like a naive child, discovers that his life is a TV show. But here we also got to see for the first time a more calm and soft side of the actor, which easily made us sympathize with the poor title character.
9. Dumb and dumb
If there is a humor that Carrey mastered better than most, it is liberating cheap slapstick and crunchy humor where he has room for improvisation and loud overplays. His probably best bet in this unfairly mocked genre is probably the cult comedy where he forms an irresistible radar pair with the equally (but somewhat unexpected) equally funny Jeff Daniels. Carrey’s first collaboration with the Farrelly brothers is still their best.
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The fantastic collaboration between Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze also managed to tone down Carrey so much that he could quite believably play a perfectly ordinary, boring – but heartbroken – man, even in a fantasy world with a memory erasure machine. Probably his most personal role, when he himself expressed that Joel is the character that most resembles him and made him question previous conditions himself.