Word: aced
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Niro plays Ace Rothstein, a Jewish odds maker so successful in Brooklyn that he is sent to run the massive Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. Now that they are legal, his talents are even more impressive; Ace's stoic and calculated methods are a thrill to watch...
With pinpoint precision and in fearfully good style, Ace refines every element of the Tangiers. Not even the chefs escape criticism, as Ace demands more consistency in the number of blueberries in each muffin...
When the most charismatic aspects of both Ace and Las Vegas are on display the effect is hypnotic. Ace really believes that he sells dreams, and his naivete is contagious. The shots of the Las Vegas Strip are are as seductive as have ever appeared in film. Whereas Mike Figgis presents a gloomier view in his exceptional "Leaving Las Vegas" and Paul Verhoeven fails to leave a lasting impression with "Showgirls," Scorsese chooses to focus on the intertwining glamour and power in this fickle town...
...Mask, Dumb & Dumber and Batman Forever, the star created a maniacally precise comic style. Here--well, he works hard. In the 105 minutes of Ace 2, Carrey rides an ostrich; feeds an eaglet mouth to mouth; emerges from the anus of a mechanical rhino; makes his eyebrows move like kooky caterpillars; bends over and utters the Tarzan cry through his rear; sneezes on, spits at and blows paper wads into the faces of various African men; and sings Chitty Chitty Bang Bang several times more than is absolutely necessary...
This review is not the cry of a prude. Frankly, we don't care if a joke's funny as long as it's dirty. But in switching writer-directors, from the first film's Tom Shadyac to Steve Oedekerk, Carrey lost a clever farceur and got what Ace would call a la-hoo-za-her (loser). The star plays more than ever to himself; the cast stands around starched and embarrassed, like white-tie judges at a wet-T shirt contest. Wearying, stupefying, dumber than dumb, When Nature Calls would be a career ender for Carrey--except that...