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Ben Stiller vs. Jim Carrey


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I like most of Ben Stiller's movies, and I like most of Jim Carrey's movies. I think this should go back all the way to In Living Color for Jim and The Ben Stiller Show, back in the 90s.

Right now, I prefer Ben Stiller. Tropic Thunder is one of my favorite recent movies. Jim Carrey hasn't done much since Eternal Sunshine and the late 90s.

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If we're talking strict comedian, it has to go to Stiller as Carrey somewhere along the way, lost his ability to be funny.

Carrey USED to be one of the top comedians but as with most guys who hit it big doing schtick, suddenly wants to show people just how deep he is and wants to do thrillers and dramas and forget what got them to the "dance" to begin with.

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Ben Stiller is awkward and frankly his movies are funnier than he is. I often find myself thinking they'd be significantly better if someone else took his role. He's more likely to annoy me with his creepy performance than make me laugh.

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For peak funny, definitely Jim Carrey. For plodding endurance, Ben Stiller.

I can't think of a single thing Stiller has ever done that made me really laugh out loud. Seeing him try to shoot the moon with humor a la Zoolander is just horribly painful. He doesn't really seem to be all that talented at very much, save for impersonating a hopelessly put-upon guy in film after film. But he does a good job of surrounding himself with people more entertaining than himself, and that counts for a lot when you're making movies.

Carrey's stuff has oscillated between absolutely hilarious and pitiably awful. But whether his movies soared or bombed, he has managed to be the headliner almost all of the time. And his forays into more serious roles (Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine, Man in the Moon ironically enough) have actually been really interesting, not some tangent reeking of desperation to be "taken seriously." He comes across as a pretty sympathetic guy in those roles and he's legitimately a very good actor when he isn't strumming his leg like a guitar or bending his face all up for cheap laughs. I've really never seen Ben Stiller match that kind of range.

Ben Stiller gets an extra point for marrying Christine Taylor, but is also docked for directing Reality Bites, arguably the worst offender in that horrific 1990s canon of early-adult Gen X navel gazer films.

Jim Carrey's Cameron Diaz movie had a hotter Cameron Diaz than Ben Stiller's Cameron Diaz movie. Point to Jim.

I read an interesting review of Carrey's work about 10 years ago and the writer pointed out, "There are two dozen guys in Hollywood who could have been Truman -- but there is literally only one who could truly pull off The Mask or Ace Ventura." Regardless of your (likely low) opinion of those movies, it's an interesting point. Who else could have been Jerry Lewis in the 1950s? By contrast, I can't think of any Stiller role in which Stiller was so irreplaceable -- and he has made some real stinkers too.

As a final thought, I don't really get people trying to line Carrey up with guys like Will Ferrell. Ferrell is the perfect example of a guy whose slapstick can't hold up to Jim Carrey's and whose downtrodden-guy act can't hold up to Ben Stiller's. For comedy, the guy has nothing except a single facial expression and the ability to shout. Ever since the years of Zoolander and Austin Powers, I've felt like the only guy in the room who sees that.

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Going with Carrey on this one.

Although a lot of Carrey humor is juvenile and silly, to me most of Stillers stuff is stupid. To me Stillers best work was the 'Parents' movies. And as mjah points out here, I don't put Will Ferrell in the same category as Carrey, if anything he is closer to Stiller. And Stiller is even closer to Sasha Cohen.

I rarely laugh at anything Cohen or Ferrell create.

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As a final thought, I don't really get people trying to line Carrey up with guys like Will Ferrell. Ferrell is the perfect example of a guy whose slapstick can't hold up to Jim Carrey's and whose downtrodden-guy act can't hold up to Ben Stiller's. For comedy, the guy has nothing except a single facial expression and the ability to shout. Ever since the years of Zoolander and Austin Powers, I've felt like the only guy in the room who sees that.

Would you say you feel like you're taking crazy pills?

Peak funny:

Carrey - Dumb and Dumber

Stiller - Something About Mary

Ferrel - Cowbell

I'll take Carrey.

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Would you say you feel like you're taking crazy pills?

LOL. Even the goofy beard couldn't save him there. So terribly unfunny.

Peak funny:

Carrey - Dumb and Dumber

Stiller - Something About Mary

Ferrel - Cowbell

Hard to argue with that. :D

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One was funny a while ago, one was never funny. My vote goes to Jim Carrey.

Don't get me wrong, Ben Stiller has been in funny movies. He himself, is not funny though. Just look at his body of work.

Tropic Thunder: Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise... funny.

There's Something About Mary: Matt Dillon, Woogie... funny.

Zoolander: Owen Wilson, Will Farrell, the models who get into a gasoline fight... funny.

Meet the Parents: Robert DeNiro, Owen Wilson... funny.

Stiller is just not funny. He's weird and awkward.

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How come you're comparing two comedians who haven't been relevant for about the past 10 years?

I'm kind of on this guy's side, but I'm biased because I also generally don't like what I term "stupid comedies". I think most of them are just terrible films. I'll say this though, I've been entertained by Jim Carrey in the past, and he's shown much more range. I want to downgrade him for his association with Jenny McCarthy and all the vaccine stuff, but it isn't enough for Stiller to overtake him. Ben Stiller has contributed less than nothing to my personal amusement.

They're all rated higher than Adam Sandler. What a turd that guy is.

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