Too Weird or Not Weird Enough: My Problem with Jim Carrey

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's been quite a while since my last post. I don't really have anything to report, so let's dive in!

Based on the title of the post, you can probably guess that I don't really like Jim Carrey. I mean, I'm fine with him as a person and even as an actor; I just don't love his acting style, particularly in his comedies.

Jim Carrey is famous for his over-the-top acting and exaggerated facial expressions, which he uses in a lot of the comedies he's in. And he's been pretty well-received. But for me personally, I found his comedy style to be not that funny and almost too weird. At least, when friends asked me why I didn't like him, that was my answer because it made sense, especially considering I do like his more serious roles. 

But I thought about it and it didn't quite sit well with me. It wasn't that I didn't like zany or over-the-top, weird humor. I do like it. So why didn't I like Jim Carrey? If I like weird, crazy humor, then I should find him hilarious. 

And then it hit me. All of the movies and TV shows where I loved the over-the-top, zany humor were animated. And I realized something else: 

It's not that I don't like Jim Carrey because he's too over the top.

I don't like Jim Carrey because he's not over the top enough. 

Hear me out. Animation excels in crazy, exaggerated humor because it has the liberty to stretch its characters beyond realistic proportions in both movements and facial expressions. 

Japanese animation in particular has this down to a science and uses crazy movements and hilariously animated facial expressions to do comedy, and it's pretty fantastic. Here are a couple of examples. 

Now compare those GIFs to one of Jim Carrey making a crazy face:




See for me, while the GIFs from the anime shows make me laugh, Jim Carrey's just makes me . . . uncomfortable. It's weird, yes, but not in a good way. I think the reason behind this is even though Jim is going above and beyond to make himself look as weird as possible, he's still limited by the real world. He can only do so much, and for me it just doesn't work because it's not stretched enough for it to be weird enough to be funny. 

Then again, I've seen live-action shows where they used special effects to make characters' faces and
movements more exaggerated, and that didn't really work for me either. The problem for me is I can't reconcile the zany humor I prefer in animation to the different type of zany humor that's common in live-action. 

So I guess in general I feel that weird, zany humor and crazy facial expressions work really well in
animation, but not so much in live-action. 

Now does this mean I think Jim Carrey shouldn't act in this style?

Of course not!

I know a lot of people love his movies and find him absolutely hilarious. And I'm really glad they do, because I think Jim Carrey is a talented actor and deserves the love. I just don't personally like his acting style in comedy that much, and I think that's because I'm used to a different style of zany humor.

But if you love Jim Carrey, great! Go watch one of his movies and have a blast with him!

I just likely won't join you.