Jim Carrey Should Be an Oscar Winner

Ever since I can remember I’ve wanted to make people laugh. I’ve wanted to write, act, direct, but from the youngest age I remember wanting to put a smile on everyone’s face. The reason for this is because of one man. He will always be my idol and inspiration for everything I want to achieve in life. Yeah, the guy that talked out of his ass and sold a dead bird to a blind kid. He’s also the guy who embodied the soul and mind of Andy Kaufman in an utterly mind blowing performance. He’s the guy who ran all over his quickly erasing memory to remember the love of his life, and to get her back. He’s the guy who should’ve won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a man named Truman Burbank, and this is why I believe Jim Carrey deserves that golden statue.

Recently I found myself watching Inside the Actor’s Studio with Jim Carrey. I felt ashamed for forgetting how amazing he is. While in recent years he hasn’t put out his best work, (*excluding the fascinatingly beautiful I Love You Philip Morris) it certainly doesn’t deter away from the fact he has been robbed of this award. He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor for The Truman Show and for Man on the Moon. (*Truman was in the Drama category while *Man was in the Musical/Comedy category) Despite being nominated and winning two years in a row, he was completely snubbed by the Academy both times. Even though his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon should’ve gotten him an Oscar prospect, there was some hard competition in the 2000 Oscar race, and still didn’t stand a chance against Alan Ball’s American Beauty. Even though it’s been a little overrated over the years Kevin Spacey’s remarkable performance couldn’t be beat that year. He was also nominated again in 2005 for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by the Golden Globes, but even if the Academy had nominated him Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of Ray Charles in the biopic Ray was a shoe in to win and no match up was going to beat him. This is why the fact he didn’t win or get nominated for his performance in The Truman Show is a tragic mistake on the Academy’s end.

Here were the Golden Globe nominees in 1999 for Best Actor in a Dramatic Role.

Wilde: Stephen Fry

Saving Private Ryan: Tom Hanks

Gods and Monsters: Ian McKellen

Affliction: Nick Nolte

The Truman Show: Jim Carrey

While most people were expecting Hanks to win, Carrey took home the Globe and the Hollywood Foreign Press knew how deserving he was of this. As a whole The Truman Show is one of the most perfect movies to date. The structure, story, score, acting is superb. One of the most riveting scenes is a crazed Truman driving a frightened Meryl around the city trying to leave but being stopped at every turn. Before I move on, here were the nominees and the winner of the 1999 Academy Awards.

Winner – Life is Beautiful: Roberto Benigni

Saving Private Ryan: Tom Hanks

Gods and Monsters: Ian McKellen

Affliction: Nick Nolte

American History X: Edward Norton

Hanks, McKellen and Nolte were in the Globe running too. Instead of Stephen Fry the Academy nominated Edward Norton. His performance was most likely too controversial to grab a win. Then put into various lists of many winners over the years that shouldn’t have really won the award, Roberto Benigni took home the Oscar. Through a lot of blogs and articles Benigni’s win was described as unjust being that he was the obscure curveball in the group. It’s always nice that the smaller, more gracious performances get recognized, but unless they are truly superior they shouldn’t win.

Not even nominating Jim Carrey was a horrific mistake. It has been known throughout the years the Academy Awards are driven with politics and a strong love for dramatic performances. Only being 12 at the time I wasn’t as engrossed in the awards season as today. Perhaps Jim failed to promote his performance in a suitable way the Academy would’ve deemed reputable. Recently Monique famously did not promote herself except by promoting how anti-Academy she was, and still took home the Best Supporting Actress prize. The Academy has also been allergic to comedians and comedies, except when fellow In Living Color alum Jamie Foxx won for Ray. With this past year it gives hope that the Academy has lifted the Comedy Curse, with multiple nominations and winners with strong comedic backgrounds. Bridesmaids was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. Groundlings alum Nat Faxon and Community co-star Jim Rash won with Alexander Payne for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Descendants. So the question is what the hell happened in 1999?

My guess is Carrey’s tongue in cheek approach to awards season, (which I can only guess because of his acceptance speeches from the Globes) or his unpredictability at the awards could’ve scared them off. Granted Carrey has put on some ridiculous, but still hilarious stunts at other venues, namely the MTV Movie Awards. Jim has won the most in the history of the MTV Movie Awards, with 11 wins including the MTV Generation Award. Even Truman Burbank got a MTV movie award, but despite this Carrey never did anything so over the top to cause a huge controversy. Trey Parker and Matt Stone showed up in dresses and on acid when their song “Blame Canada” was nominated for Best Song. Sacha Baron Cohen has caused plenty of problems for the Academy red carpet, with his most recent stunt pouring the “ashes” of Kim Jong-Il all over Ryan Seacrest. At the time was Jim too much of a gamble to take, and they felt he wouldn’t have taken the ceremony as seriously as it should’ve been? Obviously they were afraid because there is no way that it was because of the performance. The movie grossed over 125 million, so popularity wasn’t an issue either. The Truman Show has a 95% critical rating on rottentomatoes.com, making it his highest rated movie according to the website. (*His highest rated work is actually a 30 minute documentary about the work of Michel Gondry, so in this case that is omitted.) Eternal Sunshine is right behind with a 93% rating, and although Man on the Moon ranks at only 62% the audience ranked it at 74%.

So through the box office, the critics and the facts I have given proof that Jim Carrey’s performance was critically and widely received. Maybe sometime in the future Jim will finally get a golden statue. He’s been deserving of this for a long time. Even though Dumb and Dumber is not the typical Academy choice, I believe his work in it is one of his greatest to date as well. Why shouldn’t it be? Melissa McCarthy shit in a sink and got a Best Supporting Actress nomination. There was one scene in the movie, small, and definitely not the most widely talked about throughout the past 18 years, but it truly solidified for me how great of an artist Jim Carrey is. When he’s leaving the bar near the end of the movie to go find Mary’s house, he looks up at an old newspaper replica of the moon landing. He shakes his head and quietly says; “No way, that’s great…” opens the doors and loudly shouts, “WE LANDED ON THE MOON!” That whole part was improvised because Jim happened to look up and see the picture on the wall. My point is, if he puts that much creativity, vigor, and character into Dumb and Dumber, think just for a second what he probably did during his time making The Truman Show. This is why Jim Carrey should have an Oscar on his mantle, and even though he doesn’t, I have full confidence that one day he will.

Miley Cyrus Parks in a Handicapped Space - People Are Grossed Out

Earlier this week Miley Cyrus was seen leaving her Mercedes SL550 in the handicapped parking spot outside the pilates class she was going into. Most people's reactions to this have been things such as...

"I hate when able-bodies people do that!"
"what a tool."
"Jerk."

I get it, but she's a celebrity! It's so totally okay for her to park there. I mean, when you think about it, do you see a lot of handicapped people doing pilates? That's what I thought. Let the little pothead have the space for the hour. Who cares? I mean she's obviously totally awesome and cool. Here's a couple pictures from dailymail.

I mean let's face it, pilates is super strenuous and maybe her tiny Cyrus legs couldn't handle walking across a whole parking lot. Parking there was probably just way more convenient, and she probably thought since people think she's retarded it's like the same. Oh but it is not the same Hannah Montana. You know better Smokey Cyrus. I don't even care if she had gotten a ticket (sources confirm she did not.) I would've loved to see a guy in a wheelchair coming up to her while she was getting out of the car. That would've been my version of sweet revenge. It's like going to the bathroom and thinking about going into the handicapped stall, but realizing if you did and someone came in right after you with a wheelchair you'd look and feel like a total douchebag.

So I guess there are two lessons to be learned from here today. 1) Don't park in the handicapped space, and 2) This...

Adam Sandler's Comeback?

Is Adam Sandler making a creative comeback? When you think of Sandler and the word 'comeback' you may ask yourselves, well he hasn't really left, but he has been making a lot of shitty movies. Upon seeing the newly released red band trailer for his movie, That's My Boy, (with a Father's Day release) I had a renewed faith in him, that I haven't had in a very long time.

The movie is about a man, (Sandler), who gets into some trouble with the IRS and unless he can pay over $40,000 in back taxes, he's going to go to jail. Then he sees an article about his estranged son, (Andy Samberg), who is now rich, and getting married. This guy immediately comes off as a douchebag because he's on the next flight to reconnect with his son, but really he's there to borrow the money. You can watch the trailer below.

Judging by the trailer the movie looks promising. Most likely it's going to get an R rating, and the last Sandler movie with an R was Funny People, which was more of a Judd Apatow vehicle than a true Adam Sandler movie. Also the problem with Funny People was that it wasn't good. I've heard some people make their case for it, but there were a few problems with this one. Adam's character was so unlikeable, that he didn't have one redeeming quality. It's a character piece, and in the end he does grow, but I can't root for someone who I will never like. The story also fell pretty flat.

With that being said there have been many other movies he's made in the past five years. While Grown Ups was good enough and did make a lot of money, it was obviously just an excuse to get together and party for a few months. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you're not going to actually give it a try, then what's the point? Money, obviously. A Grown Ups sequel is also in production, which means another big effortless money party. It's been stated that 50 First Dates was only made because Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler wanted to work together again, and also they just wanted to go to Hawaii. Unlike Grown Ups, this movie worked, and it worked well. The great supporting cast, the script, the love story, everything about it made it a wonderful movie.

So, what happened? After 2007's I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry the Sandler train took a turn for the bad and the ugly. First there was You Don't Mess With The Zohan. Can I still get my $10 back? Being in a theater full of laughing morons while I sit there loathing every second on screen with gross out gags, a bad accent, among other things that made the movie atrocious I was in awe at the mess taking place before me. This is coming from someone who loves Dude, Where's My Car? I enjoy all types of humor in movies, except the ones that have none.

Then there was Bedtime Stories. My niece didn't even like this one. Besides being replayed on Starz everyday for three months, there would've been no other way I would've sat down and watched this movie. Fortunately for my sanity I couldn't finish it anyway. You know something stinks when even a children's movie can't make children laugh.

I've already discussed my pleasant distaste for Funny People and while it was nice seeing the SNL buddies and Kevin James as their replacement Chris Farley, Grown Ups was not anything special or new. So, moving right along to the unfunny disaster that is Just Go With It. Agreeing with mostly everyone who has seen this movie, Jennifer Aniston seemed to be the only redeeming thing about it, and while she was delightful it was a shame to see her waste a few months filming this garbage. This movie could've worked, but instead of writing an actual comedy for adults, Sandler decided to make the same dull jokes he pulls with buddy Nick Swardson, (who was completely useless in this film, despite actually being a real funny person) that he's been doing since the early '90s. Also the *NSYNC jokes were just offensive and hurtful. Lance appeared in Chuck & Larry and you just stab him in the back. Shame on you Adam.

There's no need to dwell on Jack & Jill for a paragraph, because it was so bad a couple sentences will do. I mean, it was Adam Sandler as himself and also dressing in drag as his twin sister. Do I really need to continue?

Now you may be thinking that I really dislike Adam Sandler. On the contrary, Billy Madison is in my top 5 favorite movies of all time. How I long for Nude-y magazine day, invisible penguins and snack packs. I dream of the day when Bobby Boucher rises again, and whether or not he still wants to grow old with Drew Barrymore. If 50 First Dates was any indication, then the answer is yes.

Even before this wave of terror he had a dud or two back in the day. Mr. Deeds, Spanglish, and Anger Management were all not very well received. Most of you would say Little Nicky should go in the duds section, but I say the ridiculous weird that is Nicky should go in the win category. Creatively it's one of the most far away things he's done, in the comedy department at least. Punch-Drunk Love was definitely a magnificent movie and very distant than the Sandler we're used to seeing. So, what happens now? Are we ever going to see an all around good Adam Sandler movie again? Or has Happy Madison productions lost their credibility? (If you can even believe I just said that.) Who's to say really? All I know is that when I saw this new trailer, and heard a voice that was a mixture of Little Nicky and a drunk Billy Madison, I got a little excited. Even if the days of Billy are gone, I will always be able to quote that movie back and forth, listen to the 50 First Dates soundtrack and also wonder why Kathy Bates wasn't nominated for her role as Momma, a.k.a. Helen. Ciao, Roberto.