Oedekerk, Steve

Ace Ventura Deluxe Double Feature (Pet Detective / When Nature Calls)

Allllll righty then. Let's get to it. As Ace Ventura Pet Detective Jim Carrey instantly soared to stardom while tearing decorum to pieces. The award-winning actor plays the screwloose sleuth determined to sniff out the Miami Dolphins' missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino. Jim Carrey returns in Ace Ventura When Nature Calls as the alligator-wrasslin' elephant-calling monkeyshining loogie-launching burning coals-crossing disguise-mastering pet detective. Includes a bonus DVD with specially selected cartoons from the hit TV show Ace Ventura The Animated Series.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569804340 Manufacturer No: 80434

The Ace Ventura Deluxe Double Feature offers both Pet Detective and When Nature Calls in anamorphic widescreen with soundtracks in Dolby 5.1 and (not indicated on the packaging) DTS. The original DVD of Pet Detective was full-screen (1.33 aspect ratio) only, though it had a scene with Ace masquerading as Hans Kissvelvet, the dolphin trainer, that was dropped from the theatrical release. The deluxe edition is missing this scene. The deluxe edition also has a third disc with three episodes (about 70 minutes total) from the 1995-96 Ace Ventura animated series with Michael Hall as the voice of Ace. --David Horiuchi

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was the 1994 box-office hit that turned comedy maniac Jim Carrey into Hollywood's first $20-million man. This gag-filled no-brainer stars Carrey as the titular rubber-faced gumshoe who tracks down lost pets for his heartbroken clients. Ace's latest case involves the apparent kidnapping of the Miami Dolphins' team mascot, Snowflake the dolphin (natch), and his investigation is a source of constant irritation for Miami police lieutenant Lois Einhorn (Sean Young). Friends fans will appreciate the presence of Courtney Cox, who remains admirably straight-faced as the Dolphins' publicist and Ace's would-be girlfriend, but of course it's Carrey who steals the show with shameless abandon. --Jeff Shannon

In When Nature Calls, the inevitable sequel, the disappearance of a rare African white bat, draws Ace (Carrey again) out of his spiritual retreat at a Tibetan monastery following the tragic outcome of his previous case. That traumatic experience, which makes for a hilarious opening-scene send-up of the Stallone thriller Cliffhanger, prompts Ace to venture to Africa, where he goes native with the tribe that hired him to find their symbolic bat. From that point anything goes, with Carrey pushing the boundaries of good taste (what, you were expecting good taste?) up to and including his now-infamous "birth" scene from the backside of a mechanical rhinoceros. Lighten up, and don't be ashamed if you find yourself laughing. --Jeff Shannon

Nothing to Lose

With a story that's too flimsy to support its running time, this road-movie comedy has plenty of problems, but at its best it's a surprisingly inspired vehicle for the clever teaming of Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. Robbins plays an addled advertising executive who comes home early one day and discovers his wife in bed with his boss. To make matters worse, he's later carjacked by a struggling, unemployed family-man-turned-petty-thief (Lawrence), and that's when he loses his cool completely. He takes the carjacker hostage and recruits him on a road-trip scheme of revenge against his wife and boss. Plotting to break into his boss's high-security vault, Robbins gets a criminal assist from Lawrence, but they're also on the run from another pair of would-be thieves who trail them to the vault's location. The routine plot is occasionally limp and sluggish, but writer-director Steve Oedekerk (who makes a wacky cameo appearance as a security guard) mines comedy gold during several scenes that detour from the plot for the sake of sheer lunacy. Robbins and Lawrence have great comedic chemistry (if you can tolerate Lawrence's constant profanity), and although the movie ends on a false note with some unlikely turns of fate, it's definitely good for more than a few solid laughs. --Jeff Shannon

This hugely funny action-comedy hit stars big-screen favorites Martin Lawrence (BAD BOYS) and Tim Robbins (HIGH FIDELITY). Advertising executive Nick Beam (Robbins) has completely bottomed out. His career is a mess, his marriage is on the rocks ... and a fast-talking would-be carjacker (Lawrence) has just jumped into his car! So what does he do? Nick throws common sense out the window and turns the tables on his captor! Soon this mismatched pair speeds off on a comical crime spree that includes holdups, high-speed chases, and revenge! Set to a hot hit soundtrack, NOTHING TO LOSE is another wild comedy success from the creator of ACE VENTURA and THE NUTTY PROFESSOR!

Kung Pow - Enter The Fist (The Chosen Edition)

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist is best enjoyed with low expectations, if only because it might surprise you with genuine belly laughs. Writer-director Steve Oedekerk uses digital trickery to make himself a costar in the 1976 Hong Kong action flick Tiger & Crane Fist, just as Woody Allen turned a Japanese spy thriller into the comedy spoof What's Up, Tiger Lily? The results are both technically impressive and stupendously stupid. Oedekerk is blandly appealing as "the Chosen One," who sets out to avenge the evil Master "Betty" Pain for killing his family when he was still a kung fu-fighting infant. This stock setup is a cheap excuse for Oedekerk's 80-minute buffet of chop-socky spoofery, with gags lifted from The Matrix, Oedekerk's "Thumbation" comedies, and the rich legacy of Hong Kong action. Featuring "gopher-chucks," a kung fu cow, aliens from France, and enough bad dialogue to choke a crouching tiger, Kung Pow! is mildly spicy, but mostly it's full of nuts. --Jeff Shannon

Writer/director Steve Oedekerk (The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls) creates an off-the-wall comedy and a new martial arts genre that substantially alters dubbed action footage from a 1970's martial arts picture with a brand new twist in the story line and altered dialogue. The story follows The Chosen One (Oedekerk) as he seeks to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of the evil and seemingly indestructible kung fu legend, Master Pain.

ACE VENTURA: WHEN NATURE CALLS (DVD MOVIE)

This inevitable sequel finds Jim Carrey reprising his role as the world's greatest pet detective. His latest case, the disappearance of a rare African white bat, draws him out of his spiritual retreat at a Tibetan monastery following the tragic outcome of his previous case. That traumatic experience, which makes for a hilarious opening-scene send-up of the Stallone thriller Cliffhanger, prompts Ace to venture to Africa, where he goes native with the tribe that hired him to find their symbolic bat. From that point anything goes, with Carrey pushing the boundaries of good taste (what, you were expecting good taste?) up to and including his now-infamous "birth" scene from the backside of a mechanical rhinoceros. Lighten up, and don't be ashamed if you find yourself laughing. --Jeff Shannon

Africa's the place and Ace is on the case, setting out to rescue an animal he loathes: a bat! Jim Carrey (Batman Forever) returns as Ace, the alligator-wrasslin', elephant-calling, monkeyshining, loogie-launching, burning coals-crossing, disguise-mastering pet detective. If you're ready to laugh like a pack of hyenas, if you want more fun than an industrial-sized barrel of monkeys, you know what to do. Heed the call.

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Theatrical Trailer

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist is best enjoyed with low expectations, if only because it might surprise you with genuine belly laughs. Writer-director Steve Oedekerk uses digital trickery to make himself a costar in the 1976 Hong Kong action flick Tiger & Crane Fist, just as Woody Allen turned a Japanese spy thriller into the comedy spoof What's Up, Tiger Lily? The results are both technically impressive and stupendously stupid. Oedekerk is blandly appealing as "the Chosen One," who sets out to avenge the evil Master "Betty" Pain for killing his family when he was still a kung fu-fighting infant. This stock setup is a cheap excuse for Oedekerk's 80-minute buffet of chop-socky spoofery, with gags lifted from The Matrix, Oedekerk's "Thumbation" comedies, and the rich legacy of Hong Kong action. Featuring "gopher-chucks," a kung fu cow, aliens from France, and enough bad dialogue to choke a crouching tiger, Kung Pow! is mildly spicy, but mostly it's full of nuts. --Jeff Shannon

Writer/director Steve Oedekerk (The Nutty Professor and Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls) creates an off-the-wall comedy and a new martial arts genre that substantially alters dubbed action footage from a 1970's martial arts picture with a brand new twist in the story line and altered dialogue. The story follows The Chosen One (Oedekerk) as he seeks to avenge the death of his parents at the hands of the evil and seemingly indestructible kung fu legend, Master Pain.

Thumb Wars - The Phantom Cuticle

You'll believe a thumb can talk! Writer-director Steve Oedekerk (Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls) compresses highlights of the entire trilogy into this goofy burlesque of the original Star Wars. The humor is pretty adolescent, a spoofing series of pithy puns, winking in-jokes, silly sight gags, and character caricatures, but the screwy magic Thumbation skews it all into a brand-new realm. This revolutionary process marries desktop digital effects and good old-fashioned thumb puppetry with a twisted, sick genius: human mouths and eyes are not merely morphed onto the thumbs but squished into cartoonish exaggeration. The resulting creations are like strange alien beings from a galactic farce far, far away, and the film is an equally oddball mix of chintzy toy sets and doll costumes and elaborate CGI space battles. For an all-thumbs production, it's genuinely inspired.

The commentary by creator Steve Oedekerk and producer Paul Marshal doesn't shed much light on the production, but it does up the pun quotient significantly. The DVD debut also features trailers from Thumbation classics Thumbtanic and The Blair Thumb; gag "thumbographies" of the characters; a strange, silly interview with Gabba the Butt; and a gallery of storyboards (look closely and you'll see the title The Incredible Mr. Limpet printed on the bottom--guess who was funding this picture's preproduction). --Sean Axmaker

Created by Steve Oedekerk, the writer of The Nutty Professor, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Patch Adams, this hilarious "thumbation" spoof features reluctant hero Loke Groundrunner and his tasty companion, Princess Bunhead, as they try to stop Black Helmet Man and the Evil Thumbpire from doing really bad things! So hold onto your cuticles, eat your peas and get ready for the first and only all-thumbs space epic. May the thumb be with you! Audio Commentary by creator Steve Oedekerk, producer Paul Marshal; Trailers for Thumb Wars, Thumbtanic, The Blair Thumb; Storyboards; Cast/Crew Biographies; Gabba the Butt video interview

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls [Region 2]

This inevitable sequel finds Jim Carrey reprising his role as the world's greatest pet detective. His latest case, the disappearance of a rare African white bat, draws him out of his spiritual retreat at a Tibetan monastery following the tragic outcome of his previous case. That traumatic experience, which makes for a hilarious opening-scene send-up of the Stallone thriller Cliffhanger, prompts Ace to venture to Africa, where he goes native with the tribe that hired him to find their symbolic bat. From that point anything goes, with Carrey pushing the boundaries of good taste (what, you were expecting good taste?) up to and including his now-infamous "birth" scene from the backside of a mechanical rhinoceros. Lighten up, and don't be ashamed if you find yourself laughing. --Jeff Shannon

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls [Region 2]

This inevitable sequel finds Jim Carrey reprising his role as the world's greatest pet detective. His latest case, the disappearance of a rare African white bat, draws him out of his spiritual retreat at a Tibetan monastery following the tragic outcome of his previous case. That traumatic experience, which makes for a hilarious opening-scene send-up of the Stallone thriller Cliffhanger, prompts Ace to venture to Africa, where he goes native with the tribe that hired him to find their symbolic bat. From that point anything goes, with Carrey pushing the boundaries of good taste (what, you were expecting good taste?) up to and including his now-infamous "birth" scene from the backside of a mechanical rhinoceros. Lighten up, and don't be ashamed if you find yourself laughing. --Jeff Shannon

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls [Region 2]

This inevitable sequel finds Jim Carrey reprising his role as the world's greatest pet detective. His latest case, the disappearance of a rare African white bat, draws him out of his spiritual retreat at a Tibetan monastery following the tragic outcome of his previous case. That traumatic experience, which makes for a hilarious opening-scene send-up of the Stallone thriller Cliffhanger, prompts Ace to venture to Africa, where he goes native with the tribe that hired him to find their symbolic bat. From that point anything goes, with Carrey pushing the boundaries of good taste (what, you were expecting good taste?) up to and including his now-infamous "birth" scene from the backside of a mechanical rhinoceros. Lighten up, and don't be ashamed if you find yourself laughing. --Jeff Shannon

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective/Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls