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Ace2324352435

He's the best there is at what he does.

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Ace Ventura is a comedy movie series starring Jim Carrey. The first film was 1994's Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, and it's the movie that catapulted Carrey into A-list fame when it became a surprise hit. It was followed by a sequel, 1995's Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, and an Animated Adaptation.

The entire gimmick of Ace Ventura is that he's a modern-day Sherlock Holmes... mixed with Tarzan and Doctor Dolittle. Using these "skills", Ace becomes a Pet Detective, finding and saving animals. In the first movie he appears as nothing more than a local nut helping people find their lost cats and whatnot, but being the only Pet Detective in the area (and possibly existence), he gets roped into a high-profile investigation. Possibly due to this, he's become pretty well known in the second movie, where he is hired to recover a sacred bat stolen from two African tribes before war erupts between them.

The film is pretty well known for its crude humor and vulgar jokes (toned down slightly in the second movie and animated series) as well the hero talking out of his ass; no, literally he talks out of his ass. It also featured Courtney Cox as Melissa Robinson and Sean Young as Lt. Lois Einhorn.

As of 2009 it now has its own Spinoff Babies, the direct-to-DVD Ace Ventura Jr., Pet Detective.


Tropes used in Ace Ventura include:
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Ace: (arms going limp, speech slurred) Startin' to get numb...

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  • Black Comedy Rape: In When Nature Calls, the main bad guy, after his plans to bring the Wachati and Wachootoo tribes into war with each other are brought crashing down around his ears, tries to escape their wrath, but is cornered by a silverback gorilla with... amorous intentions. Cue "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."
  • Blind Idiot Translation/My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: In When Nature Calls, Ace gets his Wachati guide Ouda to translate his words into the Wachootoo language...badly.
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Ace: War Is Hell. The last thing we want is a fight.
Ouda: "I want a fight, so go to hell!"

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    • It's left to the viewers' imagination whether Ouda is actually a bad translator, or if he's working to keep Ace alive with his mistranslations; the Wachootoo don't seem like peace-loving people, and might take fatal offense to Ace's cowardice.
  • Blow Gun: In When Nature Calls, Ace is shot with dozens of little darts (with hilarious effects) before he passes out.
  • Brain Bleach: Ace reacts to the realization that a woman who he was sexually attracted to used to be a man by vomiting his entire stomach's contents into the toilet (using a plunger on his face), burning his clothes and then scrubbing himself down in the shower while sobbing.
    • That scene was a spoof of The Crying Game. And even came with the song (as sung by Boy George) in the background.
    • The next scene, he's in his car, chewing a whole package of Big Red gum.
    • Oh, it gets better. When he reveals the fact to entire SWAT squad, the whole group starts spitting and puking.
      • SO DOES THE GODDAMN DOLPHIN! (er, both of them).
      • There's more to that. When he strips her down to her underwear but she still appears to lack the evidence, a tied-up Dan Marino calls his attention to reveal one more detail. Ace strolls back to her and turns her around, revealing that she still has her equipment...tucked in between her legs, presumably with duct tape. Cue the SWATs doing the retching routine. And they even put in the same music as when he had his own revelation!
  • Bring My Brown Pants:
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Ace: I'm looking for Ray Finkle. (Ray's father points a shotgun at Ace, whose expression doesn't change one bit) And a clean pair of shorts.

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    • Implied in the second movie.
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Fulton: (alarmed) Perhaps think we should slow down a teensy-weensy bit!?
Ace: (carefree) Nonsense, poopy-pants!

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  • Buffy-Speak: "I shall slip amongst them like a transparent...thing."
  • Bullet Catch: With his teeth, while driving a car.
  • Bulungi : Nibia
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Ace is extremely eccentric, but very good at his job.
  • The Can Kicked Him: "Do not go in there!" (it's not in the actual bathroom, but Ace has to pretend it is)
  • Catch Phrase: "Allllllllrighty then!"
    • To the point that "Allrighty then" is made into his meditation mantra in the second movie.
    • "Llllliiiike a glove!"
    • "Unfortunately, in every contest, there must be... a loser. Lu-hoo... zu-her."
    • "Ree-hee-hee-hee-HEEEEAAAAALLY..."
  • Caught on the Jumbotron: Ace fights a bird-suited mascot on a Jumbotron at the end of the first movie.
  • Caught with Your Pants Down
  • Chased by Angry Natives: At the end of the second film.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Ace's initial Sherlock Scan of Cadby alerts him to an abrasion on his palm and a white stain on his shoe, which he uses to deduce that Cadby slipped on some shoddy masonry work. This later clues him in to the fact that the white substance Cadby slipped on was in fact guano, which along with its substantial monetary value made him the true culprit.
    • During the start of his investigation, Ace plays drums with several mushroom heads growing on a tree... the red, fungus-bearing acala.
  • The Chief's Daughter: The leading lady of the second film.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The unexplained disappearance of Melissa Robinson between films.
    • Justified Trope since Ace was in self-exile in Tibet for the second film and then went straight to Africa. One would simply assume none of the former cast decided to shell out the cash to leave the country just to join in on the antics.
      • Melissa appears in Ace Jr.. She's out of the sports business and worked with animals, married Ace and they have a son. She's played by Ann Cusack.
  • Closer Than They Appear: "Warning! Assholes are closer than they appear!"
  • Cool Shades
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: Ace's methods of interrogating suspects include rubbing a ceramic plate with a knife and a fork really fast, then poking at his own eye.
    • The eye thing works on the guy he's trying it on. "(retches) Oh God, no! My brother used to do that to me!"
  • Contrived Coincidence: In the second movie, Ace is looking for a ride to chase after Cadby, who's escaping into the jungle. The only car in the parking lot with keys oh-so-conveniently left in the ignition is a big honking monster truck with tires half the size of the other guy's jeep.
  • Cranky Landlord: Mr. Shickadance from the movie and video game, is a cranky old man who hates animals. Despite his warnings for Ace not to bring any work home, Ace secretly keeps more than a dozen housepets in his room, having trained the animals to hide when the landlord appears.
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Mr. Shickadance: Ventuura.
Ace Ventura: [whispering] Yes, Satan? [turns around] Oh, I'm sorry, sir. You sounded like someone else.
Mr. Shickadance: Never mind the wisecracks, Ventura. [coughs in Ace's face]...You owe me rent.

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Ace Ventura: "Einhorn is Finkle...Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is a man! Oh, my god! Einhorn is a man?!"

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Melissa: Is Ace in trouble?
Emilio: Don't worry. If there's one thing I know, it's that there's nothing Ace can't handle.
Ace Ventura: (cut to him sobbing while being held at gunpoint) Please don't kill me!

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  • Destructo-Nookie: When Ace gets to bed Melissa in the first film, he is REALLY WILD in bed, banging the headboard against the wall. The animals watching and reacting adds to the comedy. As does The Lion Sleeps Tonight being used as nookie music.
  • Detective Mole: a murder and two kidnappings (one dolphin and one Dolphin) were investigated by police Lieutenant Lois Einhorn.
  • Do Not Pass Go:
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Ace: Alrighty then! [smacks man in the face, who looks like "The Monopoly Guy", which knocks him unconscious, drapes him over his shoulders and begins to sing and dance exotically] [shakes man] Do not pass go! Do not collect $200!

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  • Down to the Last Play: "The Kick Heard Round The World" from the first movie's back story.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Ace in both films, more so in the second.
  • Eureka Moment: "Einhorn is a MAN!" and "They have GUANO!"
  • Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Ace goes to a tank expecting to find a stolen dolphin. He finds a shark. Hilarity Ensues. Specially when he returns to the main hall entering via the toilet, his clothes all torn and wet: "Do NOT go in there!"
  • Evil-Detecting Dog: "SO! Animals... CAN sense Evil!"
  • Exit, Pursued by a Bear: The climax from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls seems to imply the villain is not so much pursued by the gorilla as pursued by it.
  • Exotic Entree: One cartoon episode has a Villainous Glutton who is kidnapping endangered species as part of a planned seven-course meal.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: After realizing he can become a pet detective, Ace Ventura's Jr. has his hair modeled after his father. He also wears an outfit similar to his dad.
    • The song "Ace in the House" by Tone Loc plays during his slow walk.
  • Eye Scream
  • Flash Back: Shout-Out to Cliffhanger.
  • Face Heel Turn: Subverted by Fulton Greenwald in the sequel. The only reason he didn't hit the lights for Ace is because he was confused by Ace's Unnecessary Combat Rolling; he gets it together later and knocks out Cadby before the villain can shoot Ace.
    • Although this probably had more to do with the giant windows and it being the middle of the day.
  • Flipping the Bird: In the first film Ace has a football player give him the finger so he can get a good look at his championship ring.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the first movie, when Ace's dog lies on the Photo of Ray Finkle, the newspaper beneath it has a story on it about an alien abduction, the acompanying image is of The Cybermen.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Ace
  • Fun with Foreign Languages: In the second film.
  • Generation Xerox: An episode of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective shows Ace Ventura's medieval ancestor as a pet detective, Guado's ancestor as a corrupt sheriff, and Woodstock's ancestor as the informer of Ace's ancestor (complete with a steampunk computer).
  • Getting Hot in Here: In When Nature Calls, things got a bit hot for Ace whilst spying on someone from within a tank disguised as a rhino. After stripping bare, he finds that the tank door is jammed, so he crawls out through the rhinobot's vagina, meaning that a safari-going family got to witness a rhino giving birth to a fully-grown, naked human.
  • Give Me a Sword: In When Nature Calls Ace gets a spear thrown into his leg while fighting a tribal native. He shouts for his sidekick to throw him a spear, which he does... stabbing him in the other leg.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Ace Ventura is a send-up of this sort of character, whether intentionally or otherwise. He literally talks out of his backside, is inherently immature and even sociopathic, but losing someone he was trying to save drives him into seclusion in a monastery. Said someone was a raccoon...
    • A notable subversion if you realize where his loyalties lie. He's a PET detective and thus, the ones he is nicest to are ALL animals.
  • GPS Evidence: In When Nature Calls, Ace gets shot by multiple darts and suspects the darts are being shot by the Wachootoo tribe. After the scene with the tribe, he gets shot again and finds out the Wachootoo dart didn't match the original darts. Ace discovers the original dart was carved from a "red, fungus-bearing acala" which is grown only in one area in the jungle where the bat-nappers are hiding.
  • High-Class Glass: The "Monopoly Guy" in When Nature Calls.
  • Horned Hairdo: A Wachootoo warrior arranges Ventura's normally duckbilled hairdo like this during his second movie, in mockery of his nickname of "White Devil." Ace does not take it well.
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Ace: All right...that's it! This "White Devil" thing has gone far enough. Nobody! Messes! With the 'do!

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  • If I'm not back in five minutes:..just wait longer.
  • Improbable Parking Skills: Li~ike a glove!
  • Inevitable Waterfall: Ace is also strapped to a wooden raft at the time.
  • Instant Sedation: When Nature Calls uses the humorous muscle paralysis angle, of course, but he's still blacking out after a rather short chase. Of course, six three darts was too much.
  • Just Plane Wrong: In When Nature Calls, the opening sequence features Ace climbing some Alpine-looking mountains, dressed in suspenders and shorts often stereotypically portrayed on Swiss alpinists, and there is a helicopter flying around him painted in crimson red with a white cross at each side — the symbol and flag of Switzerland. The aircraft's tail number (license plate)? Canadian registration. Location shooting indeed...
  • Kick the Dog: "I think I'll kill the dolphin first, I wouldn't want you to miss that!"
  • Large Ham: "Do NOT... go in there! WHOOO!" Also, when he punches out the Monopoly Guy and wears him like a stole.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Ace may be a fool, but he is the last guy you want near you if you intend to harm an animal.
  • Madness Mantra: LACES OUT!
  • Meaningful Name: Lois Einhorn ("one-horn" = unicorn)
  • Merging Machine: The animated series had an episode based around a scientist whose teleporter combined him with a fly. Later in the episode Ace is combined with Spike.
  • Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective: Dolphin kidnapping -> murder, kidnapping, and attempted murder of NFL star Dan Marino.
    • Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls: Bat kidnapping -> plot to wipe out two indigenous African tribes and seize their land.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: In the sequel, which takes place in Africa. The Indian elephant is excusable, as they're much more docile and easier to train than African elephants. But not a single animal in Quinn's warehouse was African. There were a Bengal tiger (Asian), a jaguar, macaws and a toucan (all South American). Quinn also wasn't surprised to see Spike, a South American black-capped capuchin.
    • Quinn most likely illegally smuggled the animals away from their natural habitat to put on his safari tour. Ace, when he first meets Quinn, points out that his pet raven Tiki isn't even from Africa.
  • Mission Briefing
  • Mobile Shrubbery: Ace holds a palmetto frond in front of himself in order to sneak past his landlord's window. Then he throws away the frond, onto the pile of fronds from all the previous times he snuck past.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: In the first movie, Ace sneaking into the dolphin tank, to the tune of Mission: Impossible.
  • Never My Fault: Finkle blames Dan Marino for the missed field goal that cost the Dolphins the Super Bowl, saying that if Marino had held the ball "laces out" like he was supposed to, Finkle would never have missed that kick.
  • No Need for Names: In When Nature Calls apparently, at the monastery, no one wears "labels". However, once you start inquiring about "the man who talks with his ass" they know who you're talking about right away.
  • Nobody Touches the Hair: "Don't... mess... with the 'do!!"
  • Not So Stoic: The Monks from the second film. When introduced, they're all meditating and peaceful. When they learn that Ace is leaving, they start partying with loud music, wine, throwing toilet paper, and one guy dancing in his underwear.
  • Now That's Using Your Teeth: Ace catches a bullet in his teeth while driving his car and leaning out the window.
    • One episode of the cartoon has Ace filling in for a James Bond-Expy. As he comes under fire while chasing the villain down in the requisite Cool Car, he notes his ability to catch bullets in his teeth, and prepares to do so. The villain launches a missile at Ace. He still catches it.
  • Only in Miami: The first movie's plot revolves around the Miami Dolphins.
    • And involves a story based on their real-life archrivals, the Buffalo Bills, losing Super Bowl 25 on a missed field goal.
  • Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: An interesting use in Ace Ventura Pet Detective: First Ace feels what he thinks is a gun while Lois Einhorn tries to seduce him, and points it out ("Your gun is digging into my hip."). But later, when he learns who Einhorn really is, Ace gets promptly squicked and begins to cry "It wasn't a gun! It wasn't a gun!", with the Boy George song "The Crying Game" playing in the background.
    • Made even more hilarious if you speak any German, as "Einhorn" means "Unicorn" or, literally, "one horn".
  • Overly Long Gag: Ace opens and closes a soundproof door whilst screaming to make a point. He does it six times, for no discernible reason.
  • Parrot Expowhat: From the sequel:
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Princess: That was the dart of the Wachootoo shaman!
Ace: The what-nee what-en?

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  • Present Day
  • Product Placement: An obvious ad of Subway is placed on a highway billboard early in When Nature Calls.
    • Probably not so much product placement as irony, as literally right before that Ace mentions something about loving being out in the wild, i.e. without things like Subway.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Ace has several of these in the second film:
  • Rebellious Spirit
  • Role Called
  • Room Full of Crazy: Ray Finkle's room in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, covered with scrawls of "Laces Out" and "Die Dan Die," left Ace (and the audience) in no doubt that Finkle lost his mind following the disastrous missed field goal that cost the Dolphins the Super Bowl and that he's got some rather ugly designs on Dan Marino, whom he blames for the whole thing. Ace would later say of the room, "Cozy, if you're Hannibal Lecter."
  • Scarily Competent Tracker: Subverted in the Ace Ventura animated series: Ace finds a footprint and gives a detailed description of the owner's age, size, health, and appearance. Turns out the guy dropped a drivers' license next to the footprint.
  • Sequel Goes Foreign: The second film takes place in Africa.
  • Sexual Karma: Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls has the protagonist enjoy a night with The Chief's Daughter, while the unfortunate Big Bad finds love in the bush. With the Extra Points.
  • Shark Pool: Subverted in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, when Ace stumbles into a literal Shark Pool that turns out to actually vindicate the man he is investigating, who was shaping up before that to be a classic arch-villain. (Ace thought it contained the stolen Miami Dolphins mascot.)
  • Sherlock Scan: "Except of course for that spot of blood on the railing over there!"
    • When he searches the Bat's hut in the second film, he does an extensive version of this one.
  • Shoot the Television: Lois Einhorn from Pet Detective reveals herself as Ray Finkle when commentary during the Super Bowl halftime show on the "Kick Heard Round The World" that ruined Finkle's career pushes her over the edge:
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Lois Einhorn: THE LACES WERE IN! THEY WERE IN! [shoots the screen]

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  • Shout-Out: The One Piece character Franky (a.k.a. Cutty Flam) was based on Ace, at the admission of One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda.
  • Shower of Angst: Ace, after realizing the woman he kissed used to be a man. He also chews an enormous wad of gum. And burns all his clothes, uses a toilet plunger on his face, and vomits his entire stomach contents.
  • Single-Issue Landlord: Mr. Shickadance does not like animals in his building.
  • Skeleton Key Card: Done with a door sign.
  • Slasher Smile
  • Smelly Skunk: Ace uses one to subdue some bad guys. "Say hello to my STEENKY LEETLE FRIEND!!!"
  • Smoking Barrel Blowout: Done with the skunk above.
  • Smug Snake: The Big Bad in the second movie.
  • So Much for Stealth: Ace sneaks into the mental hospital's storage room and accidentally steps on bubble wrap (but doesn't get caught).
  • Solid Gold Poop: In When Nature Calls the motivation for the bad guys to want to get rid of the peaceful tribe is to get their hands on their guano-rich lands, thereby giving them a chance to make a killing on the fertilizer market.
  • Spinoff Babies
  • Spit Take: Ace Junior's hair changes while brushing his teeth.
  • Stalker Shrine: Ray Finkle's room is a stalker shrine to Dan Marino...or at least, to the famous Super Bowl play that made Finkle a goat.
  • Standing Between the Enemies: At the climax of When Nature Calls, Ace stops two mounting armies by running between them holding the sacred bat they had been about to fight over.
  • The Summation: In the first one, he enjoys turning these into the most absurd spectacle imaginable. His first summation involves a drawn-out scream. His second involves stripping a fake woman (who is also a police lieutenant!) to her underwear.
    • In the second, he picks up the tendency to do these really quickly in one breath, which carries over to the animated series.
      • He did that twice in the first movie, too.
  • Swiss Army Appendage
  • Theme Tune Rap: Tone Loc contributed a rap for the credits of Ace Ventura Pet Detective.
  • Toilet Humour: "Excuse me! I'd like to ASS you a few questions!"
  • Transformation Trinket: In the Ace Ventura cartoon series episode "Howl Of The Weremoose", the original weremoose Drew Talbit has a moose talisman he uses to change into his weremoose form; he is able to transform at will but everyone he bites becomes as Ace puts it...his mindless weremoose slaves. It is also revealed that smashing the talisman will break the curse and turn everyone back to normal. Unfortunately Ace doesn't read the fine print which says he who destroys the tailsman gets the antlers of the grand high moose himself. Ace ends up with moose antlers; it is also said that the antlers can be removed by rubbing moosebane on them- to which Ace exclaims..."Where are we going to get moosebane in Miami!?"
  • Transsexual: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective features one of the less flattering parodies of The Crying Game, revealing that the villain is actually Lt. Lois Einhorn, who this whole time was really the missing football player Ray Finkle, having gone through complete transition (but remaining non-op), adopted the identity of a missing hiker, and became a Lieutenant, seemingly all in the sake of the perfect disguise.
  • Trash Landing: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace falls and land on his back on a pile of garbage from a roof of a two story building when trying to catch the rare albino pigeon.
  • Unsettling Gender Reveal: Ace, by Finkle/Einhorn.
  • Unsound Effect: Yyyyaaaaaaaaakkkkk....
  • Villainous Breakdown: Finkle/Einhorn has an epic one in the ending. Due to a combination of putting up with Ace's antics, her plan to kill Marino and Snowflake being foiled and a convenient shot on the TV of her previous failure in the Superbowl that caused her madness, she's reduced to just screaming and beating Ace up. When Ace tries to reveal to the other cops her true identity you can see her clearly losing it in the background even though the Cops don't believe him yet.
  • Villainous Crossdresser: Finkle/Einhorn.
  • Virgin Vision: The second Ace Ventura film:
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"She's not a virgin!"
"They can tell that?"
(Cue being Chased by Angry Natives)

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  • Vomiting Cop: Parodied in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, wherein every cop on the force throws up spits when they learn that Lois Einhorn is a man. Couple that with the facts that Ace himself threw up when he found out, and that he had a...tryst with Einhorn, and you can connect the dots.
    • And the dolphin!
  • Wait Here
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Ace: If I'm not back in 5 minutes, just wait longer.

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  • War Is Hell: Played word for word in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, when the pet detective says the following words to the native Wachoochoo tribe:
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"War...is hell! The last thing we want...is a fight!"

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  • What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Ace loves all animals... except bats.
    • Note that he also apparently likes other various non-cute animals. It's just bats that are his personal Squick.
  • Who Shot JFK?: In Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace loudly explains "I CAME TO CONFESS! I was the second gunman on the grassy knoll!" when his (unwanted) presence at the police station is questioned.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ace is deathly afraid of bats. Subverted in that he doesn't overcome his fear in any way.
  • You! Get Me Coffee!: Ace Ventura Pet Detective After Dan Marino is kidnapped, Einhorn walks into the office and orders things like an autopsy report, for no one to talk to the press... "And somebody get me some coffee!"
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Ace: "Tonight on Miami Vice, Crockett gets the boss some coffee."

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Take care, now! Bye bye, then!

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