Ace Ventura: Pet Detective – Extended Fan Edition (1994)

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective… This movie may be regarded as just a silly little comedy to some, but to me, this is a very important film. Not only was this my introduction to Jim Carrey when I was 9-years-old and my family rented the tape from Variety Video as a new release, but this was the movie that made me go “I want to be funny and make people laugh like THAT guy!”.

I attribute many influences to my comical style (Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, and the list goes on), but Jim Carrey was a HUGE influence on me, especially at that age. The hours I spent in front of the mirror doing those Carrey-esque faces, and I know I wasn’t the only kid to do so.

Needless to say, Ace Ventura became an instant favorite of mine, and I would catch it any time it would come on TV (usually the French-Canadian dubbed version, which I’ve seen A LOT), but in the early 2000s, I started noticing that airings on Network Television contained extra footage I didn’t remember seeing before. “It must be my imagination.”, I thought. “These scenes are probably on the actual home video version of the film, which I haven’t seen in a while.“. Then in the Summer of 2001, I bought a legitimate, factory-sealed VHS tape of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which had a note on the front cover: “Featuring Additional Footage Not Seen Theatrically!”.

Amazon image.

That’s it! This edition must feature those super secret scenes I saw on TV, right? It’s got to, because I paid for it, and it’s manufactured by Warner Home Video. You can imagine my disappointment when I watched it, and it was just the usual version I had seen in the past. Those scenes from the Network TV airings were nowhere to be found. I felt so cheated. Cheated, and confused. I thought that when you bought an official VHS tape of a movie, you had the most complete version available. How young and naive I was. And what about this “additional footage” they were talking about on the front cover? I’ll get to that a bit later.

As the years went by, I would catch this alternate version of Ace every now and again on TV, and one day in October of 2004, I see that Atlanta-based network TBS will be airing said version, so I loaded up the ol’ VCR and taped it. I didn’t really do anything with it for a while, but keep in mind that this is a couple of years before YouTube really took off, so I was glad to have a tape that contained those scenes so I could watch ‘em whenever I want.

Fast forward to 2010. I’m thinking to myself: I have the official VHS tape of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and I have the Network TV version that censors and cuts some stuff out, but adds in those extra scenes (almost TEN minutes of footage!). I have the necessary technology now, so how awesome would it be if I made my own extended cut of the film? A JEXtended cut, if you will. And that’s exactly what I did.

One night in December of 2010, I captured both of my VHS versions of Ace to my computer, and then took the scenes from the TV cut and spliced them into the theatrical cut, bringing it from a measly 87 minutes to a now more satisfactory 96 minutes. How did it come out? Well, let’s just say I can no longer watch the theatrical version of the film now; it HAS to be my extended cut. It flows so well, and the extra scenes actually add to the story (especially the whole Ace / Melissa storyline), not to mention it has jokes that should never have been removed. Sure, there is a slight difference in picture and audio quality during the deleted scenes, but I’m still very happy with how it came out, and it’s better than nothing, right?

Now you’re probably dying to hear about these deleted scenes, so let’s get into it:

THE DOLPHIN TRAINER

Now, there has always been a debate as to whether or not this is, in fact, a deleted scene. People remember seeing it on early home video versions of the movie. Remember the “Featuring Additional Footage Not Seen Theatrically!” note on the front cover of the VHS tape? THIS is the scene that’s referring to. This scene was actually not included in the theatrical version of the film, but was inserted back in for home video releases, making it a deleted scene, technically.

DVD and Blu-Ray versions of the film that are presented in the widescreen format do NOT include this scene. To my knowledge, it has only ever been released in the “Full Frame” 4X3 format on VHS and the initial DVD release from 1997.

The scene occurs right after Ace checks out the empty dolphin tank at the football field, investigating the kidnapping of the Miami Dolphins’ pet mascot, Snowflake. Reporters show up to the football field to get footage of Snowflake for the evening news, not knowing that the dolphin has been kidnapped. While Roger Podacter (Troy Evans) struggles to get rid of the press, Ace (Jim Carrey) jumps out of the tank claiming to be Heinz Getwellvet, a German dolphin trainer. He goes into a long speech about training Snowflake, and even imitates the dolphin, complete with hilarious sound effects! This successfully gets rid of the reporters, and they end up walking away.

The TV version even extends this scene a bit by adding some dialogue between Melissa (Courteney Cox) and Ace. After the reporters leave, Melissa asks Ace “Are you finished, Heinz?” to which he replies “Not Yet.”.

He goes to the tank, lifts up a tarp, then unscrews a cover to remove the lid of the tank filter in which he finds a stone. A stone that fell off of a ring worn by whomever did the kidnapping. With the stone in hand, Ace says “Now I’m finished”.

In the home video version, after the reporters leave, it goes straight to Ace at the filter finding the stone, and he smiles with no dialogue at all. Sure, it’s not a huge addition, but I will accept any additional footage when it comes to this movie.

BILBO’S GAS STATION / PIGSKIN SPORTS BAR

Now there’s quite the gap between the first deleted scene and this one, but here we are. After the comical The Lion Sleeps Tonight scene between Melissa and Ace (which is actually cut from the broadcast version), Ace drives to Ray Finkle’s hometown to get some information. In the theatrical version, he goes straight to Ray Finkle’s parents’ house, but in the TV version, Ace makes some stops along the way.

His first stop is at Bilbo’s Gas Station. Ace drives up and honks his horn for service, moving his mouth to mimic the horn. The depressed-looking attendant (named Fern Bilbo, according to the film’s script), comes out. Ace asks Fern for directions to the Pigskin Sports Bar. Fern eventually breaks down in tears, claiming “They all left me… All of them!”.

Ace: “Well… Hypothetically speaking, say they all left you and went to the Pigskin Sports Bar. How would they have gotten there from here?”

Fern: “Two miles down and take the first left.”

Ace thanks him, then gets in his car and leaves the scene. According to the film’s script, this scene was a bit longer and darker, starting with Fern sitting at his desk with a shotgun in his mouth, which he takes out to go outside and talk to Ace. Once they finish their conversation and Ace leaves, Fern goes back inside and puts the gun back in his mouth. Another car pulls up to the pump. Fern once again takes the gun out of his mouth, saying: “Can’t get anything done around here…”.

Whether or not the shotgun scenes were actually filmed, I don’t know for sure, but I will say that I’m glad they didn’t make it into the finished product, as they’re much too dark in contrast to the rest of the film.

Ace’s second stop is at the Pigskin Sports Bar, which is not the most welcoming place. It’s very dirty, with the saddest country song playing on the stereo. Ace walk in and tries to make chit chat with the bar patrons but fails, as nobody wants to talk to him. However, when he mentions he’s looking for Ray Finkle, now he’s in trouble as everyone in town hates the guy, on account of them losing money on the Dolphins due to Finkle costing the Dolphins the Superbowl that year.

My favorite part of this whole scene is when a patron breaks a bottle while approaching Ace, and Ace says “Oh, you wanna play with glass, huh?” and he takes out his contact lens and breaks it against the bar, saying “Come on, FAT BOY!”.

After they all calm down, the bar patrons explain their hatred towards Finkle. Ace asks if anyone’s seen him lately, and the bartender says:

“No… but we know where his parents live! Don’t we boys?!”

To which one of the hicks replies “Yeah! We sure do!”. To me, this scene is important, because it explains all of the graffiti on Ray Finkle’s parents’ house when Ace arrives there in the next scene.

SHADY ACRES PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL / ACE & MELISSA / WOODSTOCK / CANNIBAL CORPSE CONCERT

The following four deleted scenes all take place one after the other.

After doing some snooping at Shady Acres Psychiatric Hospital and discovering that there’s a link between Ray Finkle and Lois Einhorn, Ace calls Emilio (Tone Lōc) to tell him the news, all while an elderly resident imitates him.

When he hangs up, Doctor Handly (David Margulies) comes to Ace (who’s supposed to be a potential patient) and asks:

-“Who were you talking to?”

–Ace: “That was my agent. I’m the new spokesman for Nike. JUST DO IT!”

We then cut to Ace dropping Melissa off at home after leaving the psychiatric hospital.

-Ace: “Good job today. You’re quite a dirty rotten filthy liar.”

Melissa kisses him goodnight, and begins to tell him that, with the Superbowl being the next day, he did his best at finding Snowflake and she’s proud of him.

Ace makes it clear that he’s not done working on the case, and says: “Bet on the Dolphins!”.

This scene is short but adds more to the romantic storyline between Melissa and Ace, and shows more of the great chemistry between Courteney Cox and Jim Carrey.

After Ace drops off Melissa, he pays another visit to his hacker friend, Woodstock (Raynor Scheine), seen earlier in the film. They try to find a connection between Einhorn and Finkle looking at their credit reports, but with no luck. Ace tells him “Thanks for nothin’!”, and goes to the Cannibal Corpse concert happening in the same building.

Now this scene is often mistaken as part of the theatrical version, but that’s because Cannibal Corpse already appears once in the movie, playing the same song, Hammer Smashed Face. However, this second scene featuring the band is a bit more memorable, at least to me.

While talking to some metalheads in the crowd, Ace notices the two men who kidnapped Dan Marino walking into the concert. The ones he had a car chase with earlier in the movie. They recognize Ace and immediately start running after him. To lose them, Ace jumps on stage with Cannibal Corpse. The band, not knowing what to do, stops playing. Ace quickly grabs a microphone and shouts: “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!!!”, and the band resumes playing.

This scene is absolutely hilarious, with a shirtless Jim Carrey just growling into the mic, and doing these body slams into the stage. The scene ends with Ace telling the crowd what is probably my favorite line cut from the movie:

“I gotta go, guys. I got a date with your MOTHERS!”. Mic drop.

Again, this scene may seem like a repeat of the first scene featuring Cannibal Corpse, but the addition of Ace fleeing from the kidnappers and jumping on stage makes it even better. This scene highlights Jim Carrey’s comic genius, and it just shouldn’t have been cut.

COMPETENT PEOPLE

This is the shortest additional scene, running at 25 seconds. It features the owner of the Miami Dolphins, Riddle (Noble Willingham), and multi-millionaire Ronald Camp (Udo Kier) sitting in a lounge at the football stadium, while Melissa stands nearby. Camp says to Riddle:

-“I’m still shocked about Marino. How could this happen?”

To which Riddle sarcastically responds, shouting towards Melissa:

-“Competence. I’ve surrounded myself with competent people!”.

This scene is a strange addition, especially considering that we haven’t seen Riddle since his only scene early on in the movie. But, as I said before, I’ll take any additional footage I can get!

SNOWFLAKE STEALS EINHORN’S GUN

And now, the final deleted scene, and it’s a good one!

While in the warehouse with Ace, Dan Marino and Snowflake as hostages, Einhorn (Sean Young) threatens to shoot Snowflake the dolphin. Snowflake jumps up and takes the gun away from Einhorn’s hand.

Ace stands up and cheers, saying how he communicated with Snowflake using telepathy. He then says to snowflake to give him the gun, using once again the dolphin voice he did in the “Dolphin Trainer” scene.

Snowflake instead gives the gun BACK to Einhorn, to which Ace shouts “STUPID FISH!”.

There you have it! A whole nine minutes of additional footage, and I highly encourage you to check them out on YouTube. User Videolab has uploaded most of these scenes in a 720p resolution. Quite better than my old VHS quality, I will admit.

Next year will mark 30 years since the film’s release, and part of me is hopeful that Warner Home Video will release a “30^th Anniversary Extended Cut” or “Tom Shadyac Director’s Cut” on blu-ray, but at the same time, I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, I’m more than happy enjoying my homemade “Extended Cut” that I captured from my VHS tapes, for these two reasons:

1. The movie is just better that way, and I can no longer watch any other version of the film now.
2. I put it together myself, and that just makes it all the more special.