The 1996 movie Jim Carrey that duped the audience: “The marketing most of all”
When you think of Jim Carrey, you might think of Hollywood’s most prized slapstick comedian whose golden years, from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, cemented his position as one of the industry’s most significant actors.
You might not immediately think of all the movies that truly showcase his versatility or the films with themes that still resonate far and wide today, like The Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. However, as Carrey once alluded to, those movies were like “gifts from God” that prove he was never just a throwaway actor; he knows a thing or two about the deeper emotional nuance of acting.
After all, The Truman Show might have incorporated many of his signature quirks – the loud outbursts, the over-the-top expressions, the entire body acting – but it also showcased the ways he could switch between these familiar mannerisms and complete sincerity, injecting his usual comedic streak with an endearing dose of humanistic charm.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Carrey was already precisely the type of actor director Peter Weir was looking for when he first looked at the script, when he initially felt that it was too dark and in desperate need of someone to give it some much-needed comedic relief. Funnily enough, Weir was so certain that Carrey was the perfect leading character that he waited a year for him to wrap up his other commitments with The Cable Guy and Liar Liar before they started shooting.
And what better movies to prove to audiences that Carrey was the best in the comedic game, before pulling an almost 180 and starring in something more layered and culturally enduring, exploring themes of paranoia, voyeurism, media illusion and the pursuit of the ultimate freedom. But in this context, the humour served to elevate what was already there, letting the audience know that the world-building might seem extraordinary, but that Carrey’s character was little more than your friendly next-door neighbour.
Working with Weir, Carrey was determined to make this balance work, especially after the learning curve that came from the marketing around The Cable Guy and how it hadn’t quite worked out in the way they wanted it to. After all, although also a comedy, Carrey noticed how people were a little blindsided by how dark it was, expecting to show up at the cinema and see a film as funny and lighthearted as something like Ace Venture: Pet Detective.
“It was a very carefully thought-out thing with Peter [Weir] and I as to how much humour should be shown up front,” Carrey told Roger Ebert in 2012. “We didn’t wanna mislead the audience. I believe that The Cable Guy kinda misled the audience, the marketing, most of all… It was a dark-edged comedy. But in this one, Peter was amazing at finding the right now.”
Much of this was achieved through the film’s tone. From the opening scene, you’re essentially told that it’s okay to be entertained and to laugh, and that this film does, in fact, star the master of comedy himself, Jim Carrey. However, there’s also that familiar backdrop, the aforementioned themes incorporated early on, that say that this is a little different from what you might expect, bridging the gap between the humour and the deeper ruminations on modern-day life.
In many ways, it’s also a much darker movie than The Cable Guy, which is saying a lot considering that Ben Stiller’s 1996 black comedy is quite literally one of the most messed-up movies you’ll ever see. But Weir’s explorations are undeniably much more effective, resulting in something much more powerful: lasting resonance and endless discussion.
