Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)

Trading an urban environment for the jungles of Africa, Ace has achieved enlightenment and become one with nature when he's summoned to rescue a tribe's sacred white bat, Shikaka, from poachers. After that, the plot becomes irrelevant as Jim Carrey is let off his leash and causes havoc to all who meet him. This is another one of those raucous comedies where you can't analyze it too much or it loses all its value. It's fucking hilarious and I could list enough memorable scenes to cement it as a classic. I was originally going to give it a lower score, but upon revisiting it, I think it holds up as well as the original.

4 birthing rhinos out of 5

Plump Fiction (1997)

A satire of the '90s indie film scene, particularly those convoluted plots that adorned such ultra-violent thrillers as Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers and Reservoir Dogs; while also skewering everything from Sling Blade to Clerks to Nell. It's not funny enough just to make tongue-in-cheek references to other films, although it's fun to revisit them if you're familiar with this time period. I'm being generous with my rating because I enjoy the films represented and I find it an interesting snapshot of film history. This is still better than the 2000s trend of spoof comedy which would soon dilute and overwhelm the genre.

It was produced by Rhino Records, so if nothing else, the music is good.

1½ Priscilla, Queen of the Desserts out of 5