Jim Carrey's Funniest Movie Is 25 Years Old Today

It's been 25 years since Jim Carrey's physical comedy reached the peak of its power. Remember, the pen is blue.

Over the next three years, he'd return once more as the Pet Detective, embrace his darker side (though not as grim as his later, eikositriophobic years) in The Cable Guy, and put his buffoonery up against the Bat as the Riddler. He was already a star, and then he made Liar Liar.

Reuniting with Ace Ventura director Tom Shadyac, who he'd later work with on Bruce Almighty, Carrey delivers a contorting, exhausting, incredible turn in Liar Liar, a simple parable with a timeless reminder: being a pathological liar is bad.

Carrey stars as Fletcher Reede, a divorced father and lawyer who can't get through life without telling porkies, whether it's lying to win a case or making up excuses for his family. After missing his son's birthday party, he's cursed with a magic wish: for an entire day, he's unable to tell a single lie – even something as mundane as saying a blue pen is red.

Speaking from personal experience, so much of Liar Liar is supremely GIFable: that moment where he laughs and walks away with a sneer; spluttering his water and shouting 'Come on!'; feigning shock; or grabbing his hair in frustration in the courtroom.

That strain was worth it, as the movie earned more than $300 million at the box office, as well as critical acclaim. Even Roger Ebert, who wasn't particularly keen on Carrey's earlier work, wrote: "I am gradually developing a suspicion, or perhaps it is a fear, that Jim Carrey is growing on me."

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times also wrote: "As Liar Liar proves one more time, there is probably no more consistently funny performer working in film today."

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