evidence: In 1994, Jim Carrey took over comedy. Starting that February with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective—a movie that bucked critical revulsion to the tune of $107.2 million against a $15 million budget—and continuing with The Mask and Dumb and Dumber, Carrey set off a chain of events that changed the business of Hollywood. In total, the three movies amassed $706.1 million in worldwide box office receipts. By 1995, his per-picture salary had shot from six figures all the way to eight. [...] Krevoy knew that the Farrellys, and no one else, should direct Dumb and Dumber. But he also understood why studios didn’t want to take a chance on them. Cautious executives were often afraid to stick their necks out for a comedy that they may not find funny themselves. "I can’t tell you how many times that a broad comedy gets made that kind of defines that moment of that generation or that culture," Krevoy says, "and nobody wanted to do it." [...] New Line, which had just hired Carrey to star in The Mask, soon became interested in making Dumb and Dumber. But the studio balked at the up-and-coming star’s asking price, a paltry $400,000.