10 Movies That Aged Badly For Surprising Reasons

9. Ace Ventura (1994)

American Beauty Kevin Spacey
Warner Bros

The first Ace Ventura movie 'Pet Detective' came out in 1994 and was followed closely by the second 'When Nature Calls' in '95. Largely regarded as launching Jim Carrey's movie career, the films were lauded by those who enjoyed Carrey's brand of slapstick, physical humor.

The first movie has the titular character, played by Carrey, trying to save the mascot of the Miami Dolphins - which one might guess is not a walrus or an elephant, but is in fact a Dolphin. It also stars Tone Loc, Sean Young, and a barely pre-friends Courtney Cox (Ace came out in February, Friends started in September).

The reason the first movie really hasn't weathered the storm is the rise of transgender rights and representation. The major plot point of the movie is that the villain is a former NFL kicker who dresses as a woman and seduces several characters in order to kill Dan Marino. And yes, if you never saw the movie and need to take a moment re-read that line, that's justified because the plot is as nonsensical as the rest of the movie.

So when Ace shows that Lt. Einhorn, played by Sean Young, has testicles - everyone erupts into disgusted spitting (spoiler - she had kissed pretty much everyone, even the dolphin). Transphobia at its finest.

Society has progressed on the idea of Trans representation to the point that such a thing in today's films would be met with scorn, not universal mind you, but much more public outrage than the article or two Ace Ventura got back when it was first released.

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Contributor

Author of Escort (Eternal Press, 2015), co-founder of Nic3Ntertainment, and developer behind The Sickle Upon Sekigahara (2020). Currently freelancing as a game developer and history consultant. Also tends to travel the eastern U.S. doing courses on History, Writing, and Japanese Poetry. You can find his portfolio at www.richardcshaffer.com.