In 1994, Jim Carrey became one of the biggest movie stars in the world with a string of three hits: The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. This trio of movies set the stage for Carrey’s curious career by introducing his wide range of talents. They exemplified his abilities as a crowd-pleasing funnyman as well as his surprising dark side.

Carrey has starred in a ton of movies over the years. Almost every comedy script in Hollywood has made its way across his desk, so he could pretty much have his pick of projects. He’s made plenty of family movies, but he’s also explored some darker material.

10 Family-Friendly: How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Adapted from the yuletide-themed Dr. Seuss classic of the same name, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was released to mixed reviews in 2000, with the writing being heavily criticized. Fortunately, Jim Carrey’s committed performance as the Grinch more than makes up for it.

Ron Howard’s movie carried over some of the most iconic elements of the Grinch animated special from the ‘60s, like the title character’s green complexion and the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

9 Surprisingly Dark: The Cable Guy (1996)

At the time of its release, The Cable Guy was famous for being the first box office bomb of Jim Carrey’s career (and, ironically, it also scored him his biggest payday to date), but it’s since gained a cult following and Carrey’s performance as Chip Douglas is recognized as one of his best.

It was the first time outside the Batman franchise that Carrey had played a villain, and he relishes not having to be likable as he stalks Matthew Broderick’s put-upon everyman.

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8 Family-Friendly: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020)

Since only a couple of movies got traditional releases in 2020 before the whole world was put on pause, Sonic the Hedgehog is technically the second highest-grossing movie of the year. It’s not a perfect movie, but it was far better than the average video game flick.

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Jim Carrey gave an appropriately zany performance as the villainous Dr. Robotnik — standing proudly as one of the movie’s highlights — and he was well-matched with Ben Schwartz’s take on Sonic.

7 Surprisingly Dark: Me, Myself & Irene (2000)

In his second collaboration with the Farrelly brothers after Dumb and Dumber, Carrey plays a mild-mannered state trooper who has repressed his rage for years and finally snaps. The resulting mental breakdown leads to him developing a second personality, Hank, a reckless and violent man.

This juicy premise is let down by the cliché-ridden romance plot it’s used for, but Carrey’s dual performances as his character’s two personalities make the movie entertaining enough.

6 Family-Friendly: Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011)

The premise of Mr. Popper’s Penguins is very strange. Jim Carrey stars as an uptight businessman who inherits six penguins. As expected, looking after the penguins breaks through his hard shell and makes him a better person.

Parents might get frustrated by the movie’s predictable plot and featherlight tone, especially since a lot of Carrey’s other family-friendly movies are full of winking innuendos, but kids go nutty for the penguins’ antics.

5 Surprisingly Dark: The Number 23 (2007)

More than a decade after Carrey played the Riddler for director Joel Schumacher in Batman Forever, the pair reteamed for The Number 23, a dark thriller about a man who becomes obsessed with the 23 enigma — an unusual belief in the inflated importance of the number 23.

The movie isn’t anywhere near as smart as it thinks it is,  but Schumacher does bring a lot of stylized visuals to the piece.

4 Family-Friendly: Horton Hears A Who! (2008)

After playing the Grinch in live-action, Jim Carrey played another Dr. Seuss character – this time in animated form — in Horton Hears a Who!. He reteamed with his Bruce Almighty co-star Steve Carell for the movie, as Carrey plays Horton and Carell plays the Mayor of Whoville.

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Horton finds Whoville on a speck of dust on top of a flower and will do everything in his power to protect the town. It’s a delightful story filled with colorful characters.

3 Surprisingly Dark: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

The quintessential breakup movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as a couple who have recently parted ways. Unable to deal with the breakup, Carrey hires an experimental company to erase Winslet from his memories.

Midway through the procedure, something goes wrong and he gets lost inside his own mind, where he begins to regret the decision to erase her in the first place.

2 Family-Friendly: Liar Liar (1997)

One of Carrey’s many high-concept comedies, Liar Liar tells the story of a lawyer who has to go a full day without lying at the behest of his son’s birthday wish.

The sentimental tone is very schmaltzy, but Carrey’s performance contains some of the best physical comedy of his career and the message that lying is wrong and honesty is the best policy is an important one.

1 Surprisingly Dark: Dark Crimes (2016)

This movie is so dark that it even has the word “dark” in the title. It was one of the worst-reviewed movies of 2018, with critics lambasting its overly bleak tone and distasteful portrayal of abuse toward women (which some reviews accused of being misogynistic and exploitative).

Jim Carrey plays a detective who notices eerie similarities between the cold case murder of a businessman and a killing perpetrated in a recently published novel.

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About The Author


Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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