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Have you seen Doing Time on Maple Drive? There is a big chance you haven’t. It is a TV movie from 1992 and it was the first time I saw Jim Carrey. Jim plays one of the leads as an alcoholic brother and it was a solid drama. Yep, I did not need to see the Truman Show before I could decide he was good at drama. In fact he was so good, it didn’t occur to me he was a comedian. Being much younger than Jim, I didn’t have the chance to follow his filmography in a chronological manner so it explains how I fell behind. And Dumb & Dumber did not appeal to me at all. Not my sense of funny. Ace Ventura was OK. But The Mask??? Oh my god- I love that movie. In fact I was shocked to realize it was the same guy!!! How could be so funny? Of course later I became a fan and realized he was essentially a comedian, having got to Hollywood from the stand-up performances in Canada.

After The Mask, I knew I was hooked to this guy’s performances. Liar Liar was brilliant, and so was Bruce Almighty. Me,myself and Irene- though a little-vulgar was insanely entertaining. Yesman was also typical Jim. Yeah, I haven’t mentioned the critically acclaimed The Truman Show,Majestic, Man on the Moon or the cult hit Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I enjoyed Truman Show. It was bittersweet. Majestic was rather enjoyable and interesting. It portrayed the nightmare that is called reality shows so well. To be honest, the latter two bored me a little. It has nothing to do with Jim’s acting skills. But I don’t want to watch this guy in a drama!!! And especially not in depressing “romantic” stories or real-life stories (Eternal was about two lovers having their memories wiped out of each other-although I appreaciate the idea, I wouldn’t have wasted it on a bad break-up. And Man on the Moon was based on the life of Andy Kaufman.)

Don’t get me wrong. I like dramas. I do. If done well, they touch you,move you and make you feel alive. You find yourself thinking about them afterwards. It haunts you. But… There are so many good actors out there!!! There are so many actors who can make you feel like you were kicked in the gut. That can make you cry. Oh, Jim can make you cry too. The difference is while Jim can bring you to tears in a drama, he also has the amazing talent to make you cry because he makes you laugh so hard. Now, that is a much more scarce talent. I love laughing so hard that my muscles hurt, and Jim can do that. Not just with his movies. His appearances on talk shows are nothing short of hilarious and you got to admire how he comes up with a new persona/ show at movie award nights. He once dressed as a stoned, long-haired, bearded hippie biker and his own friends didn’t recognize him until he got to the stage to claim his award.There was a time he tried to french Will Smith. Once he thanked himself for the award: