Why Critics Sometimes Get It Wrong
You might be wondering what Jim Carrey and Ace Ventura have to do with my post, but there's a great lesson here, and one that I relate to more than I could even begin to articulate.
I keep coming back to this story every three or four months, watching the specific clip on YouTube where Jim sits down with his peers and shares it.
Jim definitely paid his dues, performing in countless comedy clubs and taking whatever movie roles he could get. His break (appearing on Carson was another one) finally came on "In Living Color," which I still consider to be an incredibly underrated sketch comedy show that launched many careers and deserves to be mentioned far more frequently.
I digress!
Jim's major moment finally arrived with Ace Ventura. This was the perfect role for Jim to be completely himself, showcasing the wild, physical comedy style and over-the-top characters that made him stand out. Sure, this approach was and still is somewhat polarizing, but if you embrace who you are, that's when the magic often happens.
When the movie came out, Siskel and Ebert hated it and completely ripped it apart, labelling it one of the worst movies they had ever seen.
In reality, the movie was so different from modern traditional comedies that they didn't even have much to judge it against. I guess they forgot about Jerry Lewis.
For Jim, he took this hard, and that familiar voice of self-doubt crept in. But he had been there before and figured, "I'll just break in through the basement window."
Sometimes, the critics get it wrong, and the people get it right. The movie was a hit with the audience and drew solid returns at the box office. The success of Ace Ventura opened many new doors for Jim as he dominated the better part of the 1990s.
Years later, when The Truman Show came out (one of my all-time favourite films), Siskel and Ebert dedicated an entire episode of their show to him, calling it "Clown with Class." They finally came around and admitted they were wrong and were too quick to judge.
Sometimes, it takes time for people to catch up to a vision ahead of time, or it is so vastly different from others.
I adore this story on so many levels. Yes, part of it is because I grew up watching Jim and saw a bit of myself in him, that person who's maybe a little too loud, a little too silly, always being told to tone it down. But the bigger lesson was that when you truly believe in what you're doing, even if the whole world doesn't get it at first, you've got to keep going.
Those same critics might eventually become your biggest champions. You just have to give those same individuals and hell, even your dreams, enough time to prove themselves.
