the film's generally inoffensive tastelessness into a particularly brutal and unpleasant stew of homophobia and misogyny". The New York Times film critic Stephen Holden said: "The comic actor Jim Carrey gives one of the most hyperactive performances ever brought to the screen... Only a child could love Mr. Carrey's character, but that may be the point. The movie has the metabolism, logic and attention span of a peevish 6-year-old", also commenting of Ace Ventura's animals that "the few scenes of Ace communicating with his animals hint at an endearing wackiness that is abruptly undercut by the movie's ridiculous plot". The Washington Posts film critics Rita Kempley and Desson Howe reviewed the film positively. Kempley said: "A riot from start to finish, Carrey's first feature comedy is as cheerfully bawdy as it is idiotically inventive. A spoof of detective movies, the story touches all the bases". Howe said that the film "is a mindless stretch of nonsense" and highlighted multiple "Carreyisms along the way". Howe concluded: "There are some unfortunate elements that were unnecessary -- a big strain of homophobic jokes for one, profane and sexual situations that rule out the kiddie audience for another. But essentially, Ace is an unsophisticated opportunity to laugh at the mischief Carrey's body parts can get up to". James Berardinelli said that the comic momentum sputters long before the running time has elapsed. Berardinelli said of Carrey that he "uses his rubber features and goofy personae" that succeeds for a short time but after that, "Carrey's act gradually grows less humorous and more tiresome, and the laughter in the audience seems forced". The critic said the film has "its moments" of humor but considered there to be "a lot of dead screen time" in between. While Michael MacCambridge of Austin American-Statesman named it as an honorable mention of his list of the best films of 1994, Rocky Mountain Newss Rober Denerstein listed it as the second worst of the year. Musician Elvis Costello spoke positively of the film in 1994: "A guilty pleasure. I saw it one afternoon in the hotel when things were a bit grim and I just didn't feel like doing anything intelligent. And I just laughed myself sick". Accolades Criticism The film has been criticized for the way it portrays transgender people. Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins wrote in Representing Queer and Transgender Identity that mainstream representation of transgender identity at the turn