Ace Ventura: Pet Detective MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +1/2 Content: -3

The carefully sculpted TV commercials for ACE depict a relatively innocent "Ernest, P.I." kind of film. Nothing could be further from the truth. Pet Detective Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey) gets the assignment of his life when Snowflake, the Miami Dolphin's mascot, is abducted just days before the Super Bowl. Also on the case are Dolphin employee and Ventura's love interest, Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox) and police lieutenant Lois Einhorn (Sean Young). Ventura's unconventional but effective sleuthing reveals the kidnapper is Ray Finkle. He is the former Dolphins place-kicker who missed the game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl a decade before. When quarterback Dan Marino is abducted the day before the big game, Ventura discovers that the lovely Lt. Einhorn is really Ray Finkle dressed as a woman. Neither a coherent screenplay, deep characterizations, nor good taste get in the way of Mr. Carrey's frenetic slapstick comedy. Adults will find ACE VENTURA's hectic craziness tiring after the first reel; even some younger viewers remarked about how long it was, and it's only 88 minutes long.

What's really disturbing is that advance publicity makes ACE look so harmless. The film is just minutes old and Ace is accepting unconventional sex as payment for rescuing a buxom bimbo's dog. A continuous barrage of crude sexual humor pollutes the film. Most of the chuckles come from tasteless bits like Ventura's buttocks ventriloquism, household animals watching Ventura and Melissa's sexual encounter, and people trading insults about each other's anatomy. To top it off, the humorless conclusion shows the outline of a man's genitals through women's underwear. This, along with obscenities and profanity, make ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE a real wolf in sheep's clothing. Sadly, the media machine will have duped many into taking their young children to this film by the time we go to press.

Preview Reviewer: Pete Zimowski
Distributor: Warner Brothers, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522