12 of Jim Carrey’s Best Films

Jim Carrey’s seemingly rapid mid-’90s ascent followed over a decade of ups and downs (including three failed SNL auditions) before finally finding a long-term home on Fox’s In Living Color. When he broke out in movies, he speed-ran through an unmatched decade of dominance at the start of a long and winding career.

From over-the-top comedies powered by unending energy to startlingly still-relevant dramedies that examine loneliness, fame, and heartbreak, Carrey has given us an array of looks, laughs, and lamentations. These are 12 of Jim Carrey’s best films.

1. Once Bitten (1985)
2. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
3. The Mask (1994)
4. Dumb And Dumber (1994)
5. Batman Forever (1995)
6. The Cable Guy (1996)
7. Liar Liar (1997)
8. The Truman Show (1998)
9. Man On The Moon (1999)
10. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
11. Bruce Almighty (2003)
12. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Once Bitten (1985)

Once Bitten could have been Carrey’s big-screen big-break, but critics were cool to the story of an ice cream truck-driving teen virgin standing between a vampire countess and her goal of eternal youth. Still, the sex comedy has its fans who recognize Carrey’s early potential. That list apparently includes Carrey superfan Ariana Grande, who some believe dropped a few subtle easter eggs for Once Bitten in the music video for “Boy Is Mine,” a song from her 2024 Eternal Sunshine album (also a nod to one of Carrey’s films). Grande also made a cameo on Carrey’s show, Kidding.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Ace Ventura was the perfect vehicle for Carrey as his run on In Living Color drew to a close, but it took adjustments to turn Ace into the overly confident manchild on an endless sugar rush that audiences fell in love with. Carrey’s In Living Color co-star, David Alan Grier, has the unique perspective of being offered the film (alongside SNL alum Rob Schneider) before Carrey and then standing beside Carrey at the premiere. He’s quick to admit that he didn’t see the film working, telling Neal Brennan on the Blocks podcast, “I just thought this is too crazy for America!” before laughing off how wrong he was.

The Mask (1994)

When adapting The Mask from its source material—a bloody comic book—the filmmakers made the switch from horror to comedy. The wish list of potential actors included everyone from Rick Moranis to Nicolas Cage, but director Chuck Russell really wrote the film for Carrey “before I knew whether I could get him or not.” The end result feels like the Ritalin-deprived offspring of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Beetlejuice, with Carrey mugging in a yellow zoot suit and singing “Cuban Pete” (while sick with the flu). While the masked maniac gets the attention thanks to Carrey’s ability to be a torrent of energy, the normcore banker side of Stanley deserves praise as well for providing the story’s heart.

Dumb And Dumber (1994)

Carrey’s third 1994 blockbuster saw him team with The Farrelly Brothers to create a road movie driven by two outlandishly stupid friends. Behind the scenes, the studio saw Carrey wield his freshly secured power: The actor didn’t want to partner with another comic in Dumb And Dumber. Instead, he pushed for Jeff Daniels, whose resume tilted toward drama. “I really fought for that idea of having him in the picture with me,” Carrey told Bobbie Wyngant while the movie was filming. “I want an actor. I want someone who is going to teach me something … or challenge me and maybe frighten me now and again.”

Daniels got pushback coming from his reps. In 2021, he told Vanity Fair that he responded to the reps’ last-minute effort to get him to quit by assuring them he wouldn’t get “wiped off the screen” by Carrey and reasoning that expanding his range would lead to work. Thirty years out, and it’s clear both Carrey and Daniels were right.

Batman Forever (1995)

Carrey’s freak as The Riddler matches the vibe that director Joel Schumacher was going for in Batman Forever. Pairing Carrey with a grossly miscast Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face may have been a mistake. Jones was barely able to hide his disdain for Carrey, who told Norm Macdonald about a tense off-set encounter where the Fugitive star told Carrey he hated him before authoring an all-time put-down, saying, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery.”

The Cable Guy (1996)

Marketed as a big summer comedy, The Cable Guy shocked critics and audiences when it debuted as more of a darkly comedic satire of mass media. The film holds up remarkably well, doubling as a toxic bromance thriller featuring plenty of memorable comedic moments—specifically, the Medieval Times sequence that, as Carrey says in the DVD commentary, was pulled from his own nightmare experience at a Renaissance Faire.

The film isn’t without connective tissue to Carrey’s In Living Color days, either: Part of the inspiration for his character came from Dickie Peterson, a self-serious citizen commando character from the show. 

Liar Liar (1997)

Liar Liar tells the story of a lawyer forced to tell hard truths for 24 hours after his kid’s birthday wish proves surprisingly potent. The film marks Carrey’s first time playing a parent, a move that opened the door to the more family-focused films to come. Leaning heavily on Carrey’s physical comedy virtuosity, it’s hard to believe we almost got a version with Hugh Grant as Fletcher instead. Can you imagine Grant properly kicking his own ass in a bathroom?

The Truman Show (1998)

Carrey’s first dramatic lead and one of his best performances (winning him a Golden Globe), The Truman Show forecasts a world of reality TV obsession and life by livestream. According to Carrey, he was cast off the look of the Ace Ventura poster by director Peter Weir, who said he saw “energy and unpredictability” in the actor. There was also a connection between the title character’s realization that he’s the biggest star in the world and what Carrey went through in the mid-’90s. “I had all the feelings of paranoia and everything that goes with it,” Carrey said years later in a Charlie Rose interview. 

Man On The Moon (1999)

Carrey won his second Golden Globe for playing Andy Kaufman in Man On The Moon, but it wasn’t without a cost. As revealed in the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Carrey suggests Kaufman inhabited him during production and that he (Carrey) “couldn’t remember who [he] was anymore” after filming. Whether you believe that or think it’s method actor BS, Carrey took things to extraordinary levels, interacting behind the scenes with Kaufman’s family and daughter, all as the dead comedian.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

This Dr. Seuss adaptation was Carrey’s first full foray into the family genre, and it was a grind, demanding physical immersion with nearly four hours in the makeup chair daily. While the movie is a holiday staple, was it worth all that? Not only did Carrey reportedly alienate members of the crew, Mask concept creator Mike Richardson thinks the frustration with the makeup was a reason Carrey never did a Mask sequel.

Bruce Almighty (2003)

Carrey stars opposite Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman as a weatherman blessed and cursed with the power of God in what would become his biggest hit ($485 million worldwide) and a franchise launchpad—if only Carrey had agreed. Instead, he chose to sit out Evan Almighty, a bomb that killed interest in the third film he actually wanted to make: Brucifer, a movie where he would gain Satan’s powers. While Fun With Dick And Jane (2005) and Yes Man (2008) were to come, Bruce Almighty feels like the beginning of the end for Carrey comedy blockbusters.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Carrey’s best film represents the completion of a transformation. The actor was brash, loud, and silly in films where he’d talk out of his ass or hump air, but this Michel Gondry-directed classic pushed him to be vulnerable, playing a man desperate to hang onto the memories of a girlfriend he had tried to erase.

Is it cruel that Gondry urged Carrey to tap into the pain of his recent breakup with Renee Zellweger, going so far as to cast a Zellweger lookalike as one of his exes in a scene that was scrapped? Perhaps, but as the film shows, it’s hard to erase the pain of lost love. Thankfully. While other films on this list hold a special place in people’s hearts (for nostalgia or because they’re great), Eternal Sunshine feels unique for the force of its imprint on those who have seen it.

Read More About Movies: