Jim Carrey's Best Movies

He's done an angry, furry 'Grinch,' a grumpy, murderous 'Snicket,' and now, Jim Carrey will take on the meanest of all, old Ebenezer Scrooge in 'Disney's A Christmas Carol.' And to honor the elastic-faced funnyman, we're counting down his career's best films.

In roles ranging from lowbrow ('Ace Ventura,' 'Me Myself & Irene') to profound ('Truman Show,' 'Eternal Sunshine'), Carrey's made us wince in disgust, roll over laughing and -- though we may be ashamed to admit it -- even shed a few tears. Check out our picks and let us know what you think.




Who He Plays: Bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss, turned into a manic righter of wrongs when he puts on a magic mask
Why It Ranks: The funny, crazy guy gets the girl -- how cool is that? The girl in this case being a supermodel in her first movie role, Cameron Diaz. Maybe you've heard of her? In Stanley's words, she's ssssmokin'.




9. 'Me, Myself & Irene'
Who He Plays: Rhode Island state trooper with a split personality
Why It Ranks: Carrey's mild-mannered Charlie is kind of boring, to be honest, but when he goes into a rage blackout and becomes alter-ego Hank, that's when the fun (pooping on his neighbor's lawn, breast-feeding from a nursing mom, etc.) occurs.




8. 'The Cable Guy'
Who He Plays: The deranged titular character
Why It Ranks: Complete with lisp and extreme social awkwardness, Carrey's cable
guy in search of a pal evokes sympathy at the same time he elicits disgust. Exhibit A: He buys an unwitting Matthew Broderick a prostitute for his birthday. How ... sweet?





7. 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'
Who He Plays: He's, uh, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Why It Ranks: Carrey continually proves that nothing -- not animals, kids or Courteney Cox -- can upstage him. And no one makes potty humor as palatable as Ace. Did we just say "potty" and "palatable" in the same sentence? Alrighty, then.





6. 'Liar, Liar'
Who He Plays: Fletcher Reede, a work-obsessed lawyer who, because of his son's birthday wish, cannot tell a lie for a whole day
Why It Ranks: What can we say? Watching Carrey blurt out the truth while he's trying to hold himself back is just good plain fun. And though we CAN lie, here we're not.





5. 'Bruce Almighty'
Who He Plays: Buffalo news reporter with a God complex
Why It Ranks: First of all, Morgan Freeman as God? GENIUS. And Carrey, as an everyman blessed with cosmic powers, shows he doesn't need masks and accents to be funny. See, you can make your girlfriend's breasts get bigger and still learn life lessons, too.




4. 'Man on the Moon'
Who He Plays: Andy Kaufman, absurdist
Why It Ranks: It's hard to imagine a more appropriate figure for Carrey to interpret with his madcap comedic style. Though Carrey won a Golden Globe for 'Moon,' the Academy gave Richard Farnsworth a nod instead, leaving many wondering: Who is Richard Farnsworth?




3. 'The Truman Show'
Who He Plays: Unwitting star of his own reality TV show
Why It Ranks: Peter Weir's existential satire, about a man whose life turns out to be an elaborate fiction, is provocative and heartfelt, bordering on brilliant. That Carrey's nuanced turn wasn't Oscar-nominated remains one of the Academy's greater travesties.





2. 'Dumb And Dumber'
Who He Plays: One of the two stupidest men on Earth
Why It Ranks: Scientific fact: Dumb comedy may be easy to do, but no one's ever done it better (and for as many consecutive minutes) in the history of mankind. Just when we think Harry (Jeff Daniels) and Lloyd (Carrey) can't get any funnier, they do, and totally redeem themselves.




1. 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'
Who He Plays: Sad, shy, sweet Joel Barish
Why It Ranks: This stream-of-consciousness journey through the mind of a man trying to expunge his ex from his memory resulted in Carrey's finest performance to date AND perhaps the most romantic movie ever. Aside from 'Borat,' of course.



Jim Carrey Facts & Trivia