n for a single movie and in the early days of his film career, his work earned more than $500 million at the box office (Johnson, 1998). Brian Johnson (1998, p. 55) describes Carrey as follows: "he was the freak with the rubber face, not an actor so much as a human special effect. He was the sophomoric goof who made his butt cheeks to the talking in Ace Ventura: Pet Detectivea. He was Mr. Slapstick Superstar -- a Gen X Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke on acid, Robin Williams with less body hair."
These comments reflect the early films made by Carrey, including the pair of Ace Ventura films, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. Carrey has moved from extremely broad slapstick-like comedies into darker or more serious films, including The Majestic, The Truman Show, The Cable Guy, and Man on the Moon. Not all of his films have been successful. A recent article in Rolling Stone (Is Jim Carreya, 2003) suggested that in the recently released Bruce Almighty, Carrey's talents stagnated and he returned to the no-risk clown role that earns him $20 million per film. Earlier, though critics were impressed by both The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, audiences were less impressed. What audiences appear to want from Jim Carrey is the distorted, over-the-top physical comedy of the Ace Ventura films (Lally, 2003).
Richard Natale (2000) pointed out that Carrey has been compared to silent screen comics such as Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin as well as sound era comedians like Jerry Lewis. However, Natale (2000) believes that Carrey draws from the past in a much broader manner. For example, Carrey has stated that Abbott and Costello were his primary influences when he worked on Dumb and Dumber with Jeff Bridges. At the same time Natale (2000) contends that unlike many screen comics, Carrey has leading man qualities that make him more like comedic-dramatic actors such as Jack Lemmon than strict comedians like Jerry Lewis.
What Chaplin and Ca...