I think people overlook the way his energy has a dark undertone sometimes. There’s something in his high energy performances that throws red flags for me, in a mental health emergency kinda way. But I like that in him.
I have a troubled family, and Jim Carrey reminds me of a particular uncle of mine who has severe bipolar and ADHD, among other things. I think most people find his performances funny because they can’t imagine being in the room with someone who behaves that way.
Have you watched Kidding? The Jim Carrey show about him being a dark Mister Rogers?
I worried about him, too. I saw him following the Robin Williams playbook for a while. But unlike Williams, Carrey has been very public about his mental health and is actively working on it. So I feel like unless something goes horribly wrong, he’ll be fine. True creative geniuses usually need help keeping themselves grounded, but seldom does anyone reach out to give it to them.
Most everyone could use that kind of help from time to time.
I don’t think that’s necessarily an unpopular opinion. Burton allowed his villains to chew the scenery, and so did Schumacher. We got what we expected with Jim Carrey.
I think most people’s issue with Schumacher’s Batman is that the extreme camp was a departure from Burton and not exactly what fans wanted from a Batman film at the time. The swashbuckling 70s Batman comics, and the dark, gritty 80s Batman had more than proven the character could be done seriously. Burton put that on screen with his two movies, which carved out a more modern, more gothic, and (for the time) more grounded Batman than previous adaptations. It worked, and people liked it.
Schumacher’s movies reverted Batman back to the camp of the '60s, and was explicitly pulling from the Batman TV show, which was effectively a comedy more than anything else. Fans weren’t feeling that anymore in the 90s, and they kind of still aren’t (though I’d argue they’ve opened themselves up to camp a bit more after we’ve been to the extreme other end with Snyder).
That said, if there’s one aspect of Batman that is always permitted to be campy, it’s the villains (within reason). Jim Carrey’s Riddler is basically Frank Gorshin’s Riddler from the show, which was kind of the standard way of depicting Riddler for the era. It didn’t align with what we generally expect from Batman nowadays, but it was undeniably entertaining, and not all together unfitting.
I forget where exactly I heard this, but I recall Tommy Lee Jones remarking to Carrey that he “cannot sanction your buffoonery”, so I know at least one person who was not a fan. Which, is very funny considering Tommy Lee Jones, but is also a little bit of a head scratcher, since it was not as though he went for a super subtle Two-Face performance.
Unpopular opinion; he was amazing as the Riddler.
I think people overlook the way his energy has a dark undertone sometimes. There’s something in his high energy performances that throws red flags for me, in a mental health emergency kinda way. But I like that in him.
I have a troubled family, and Jim Carrey reminds me of a particular uncle of mine who has severe bipolar and ADHD, among other things. I think most people find his performances funny because they can’t imagine being in the room with someone who behaves that way.
Have you watched Kidding? The Jim Carrey show about him being a dark Mister Rogers?
I worried about him, too. I saw him following the Robin Williams playbook for a while. But unlike Williams, Carrey has been very public about his mental health and is actively working on it. So I feel like unless something goes horribly wrong, he’ll be fine. True creative geniuses usually need help keeping themselves grounded, but seldom does anyone reach out to give it to them.
Most everyone could use that kind of help from time to time.
I don’t think that’s necessarily an unpopular opinion. Burton allowed his villains to chew the scenery, and so did Schumacher. We got what we expected with Jim Carrey.
I think most people’s issue with Schumacher’s Batman is that the extreme camp was a departure from Burton and not exactly what fans wanted from a Batman film at the time. The swashbuckling 70s Batman comics, and the dark, gritty 80s Batman had more than proven the character could be done seriously. Burton put that on screen with his two movies, which carved out a more modern, more gothic, and (for the time) more grounded Batman than previous adaptations. It worked, and people liked it.
Schumacher’s movies reverted Batman back to the camp of the '60s, and was explicitly pulling from the Batman TV show, which was effectively a comedy more than anything else. Fans weren’t feeling that anymore in the 90s, and they kind of still aren’t (though I’d argue they’ve opened themselves up to camp a bit more after we’ve been to the extreme other end with Snyder).
That said, if there’s one aspect of Batman that is always permitted to be campy, it’s the villains (within reason). Jim Carrey’s Riddler is basically Frank Gorshin’s Riddler from the show, which was kind of the standard way of depicting Riddler for the era. It didn’t align with what we generally expect from Batman nowadays, but it was undeniably entertaining, and not all together unfitting.
People don’t like his Riddler?? That was like one of the best parts of that wacky movie
I forget where exactly I heard this, but I recall Tommy Lee Jones remarking to Carrey that he “cannot sanction your buffoonery”, so I know at least one person who was not a fan. Which, is very funny considering Tommy Lee Jones, but is also a little bit of a head scratcher, since it was not as though he went for a super subtle Two-Face performance.