Jim Carrey fans, I need a synopsis

[m0ds]

I won't deny it, I'm a big fan of Jim Carrey. Okay so I don't have all his movies but I still love his acting - his eccentricity. My former friend, Neil, who I haven't spoken to for ages was a spitting image of Carrey's attitude on screen, he was dead funny.

Anyway, it's almost Christmas and as you know I like film-making, and I really want to make a 20 - 30 minute short whilst all the decorations are all over every town and city in the area.

I want to write a comedy Jim Carrey style, but I don't really know what sort of synopsis to have. I recently saw and bought Bruce Almighty, which I love to bits. It gets a bit too soppy near the end but I still think Jim was perfect for the role, and Morgan Freeman as God - well, that's the iceing on "teh" cake!

So I'm looking to do something similar in the sense that it's whismical, fantasy almost. Comedy of course and centered mainly around one guy. I was thinking of ripping BA off totally and having one guy take on the job as Santa, but thought that might be a bit crap. I'm not bothered if the storyline isn't original, I just want to write something funny and Christmas-y.

But I'm out of ideas and would love some input.

Do you have any?


m0ds

[Scummbuddy]

This isn't much of a help, but I do know that when Jim Carrey is handed his favorite scripts, there are moments when in the script it just says "then Jim does something funny" which allows him to have such a creative allowance.

If I have any ideas, I'll throw 'em at you.

[shbaz]

Tim Allen took the role of Santa in some movie or another when he accidentally killed the original. Don't remember what it was called. You can't make him an elf, either, or it would look like Will Farell's new movie.

I could throw a lot of ideas at you, but I doubt you'd want to use mine, they're all morbid and strange.

[Trapezoid]

Main character is a suicide hotline operator. Make that a WACKY suicide hotline operator. Santa Claus calls him up with a bad case of winter depression, and it becomes the main character's mission to travel to the North Pole and stop Santa from ODing on candy canes.
How about that? Too tasteless?  :

[Quintaros]

Well I think the Jim Carrey comedy works best when the character is a slightly selfish man who ultimately is a pretty decent guy.  Haven't seen Bruce Almighty yet but I suspect that it would fit that mold.

Off the top of my head, I suggest a story about a guy who has lost his fun side and become a bit of a workaholic.  Christmas morning he is as likely to be surprised by what "he" gave his children as they are because his wife takes care of these things.  But she's growing pretty tired of this and he's treading on thin ice with her.  This Christmas he has to pull it together and put some effort into getting gifts for the family.  But he's procrastinated and so now its Christmas Eve, there's about 4 shopping hours left and he doesn't even know what anybody wants.  He tries to enlist the help of others (such as in-laws and his own mother) for suggestions but they have been given strict instructions that he is to handle it on his own.  He tries to bribe Department store Santas into finding out what kids want these days.  He tries talking with other last minute husbands but they're as clueless as he.  Ultimately he fails his mission before the stores close down.  Now he's left up high and dry and only a Christmas miracle can help him.  It had looked like it was going to be a green Christmas but then it starts snowing.  He creates a winter wonderland complete with ice sculptures of his family.  This relatively commercialized man resorts to the most no commercial gift available, the handmade kind, and in doing so learns the true meaning of Christmas.

Too clichéd? Too sappy?

I like yours too, Trap.  With comedy there's no such thing as too tasteless.  But I guess I didn't go that route.

[Scummbuddy]

wow, quint....



edit: thats a good one

[quintaros (at work)]

Is that a good "wow" or bad "wow"?

[Evil]

Well, Quint's was awsome but here goes mine anyway...

It's Christmas Eve, "Jim" is walking through the mall. He notices a girl and her 'boyfriend' talking. Her boyfriend gets up and leaves. Obviously the man had broke up with this girl and she is heartbroken. Come on, its fricken Christmas Eve. Jim makes notice of her. He is at an atm or somthing and is facing the other way and can only see her back when he glances back wards to look. He cant see her face but he knows she is beautyful just by her hair, clothes and such. The woman says something like "I wish I could just find a nice, avarge joe who wouldnt do a thing like this." Jim mutters "I'm an avarage Joe." He begins to walk tward her when he is trampeld by a pack of people coming out of a store. But as he fights the crowd the lady gets up. Jim breaks through the crowd to find the lady gone. He searches around looking franticly. He just gets a glance of her walking into a store. He follows but doesnt want to be noticed. Well after this he gets into sticky situations (ie: almost gets caught following her; poses as store manican, pretends to be a clerk, doesnt want to follow into womans store like VS, hides in clothing racks). She moves from store to store buying things, trying things on, ect. Throughout this he never sees her face until he makes the perfect moment where she falls for him. They shop for a while (timeline fading). Then she asks to leave for a second and he agrees. He doesnt pay atention to were she goes but went he does look he sees the guy from before on his knees pleading to get back together with her, obviously. She smiles gives him a hug, looks around to make sure no one is looking and they run out of the store together. Jim trots to the enterance to see them halfway down the mall. He gives a sad smurk (ie:  ) and sits down on a bench in the middle of the hall. He sits upset. A female voice from the bench behind him says "I wish I could just find somebody. I dont want to be alone for Christmas." He says "Me too". He realizes what just happend and he turns around in unisin with the girl and they both smile. Jim puts his hand out and says "Hi, Jim Whoever" and she shakes his hand and says "Jill Whoeverelse" they smile again. Jim says "So... What are you doing on Christmas?"

Sorry for the typos and all I'm not gonna read it all again. And for the length. I like the idea. Mostly slapstick which is good for a comedy. Nice and short too. I dunno. Alot can happen when he follows her and stuff. I have other ideas but this is the shortest.

[evenwolf]

Thing about Quints is that ice sculptures would raise the production costs just a bit  - if you actually want to show them onscreen rather than just refer to them (ie: "Dad, that was a wonderful winter wonderland you made." "Thanks honey, too bad all those ice sculptures melted so soon.")

But the idea in itself is kind of like that one where Arnold has to beat up Sinbad for a toy -  except good.


Mods- two rival gangs meet up for a snowball fight.  They're pretty tough dudes,  but theyre all wearing mittens and scarves.  The Jim Carrey character is in one gang and his brother is in the other.  The winner will be deemed King of the street. Make it a musical.  At some point have your Jim Carrey friend make love to a snowman.  But make it as short as possible, 10 - 15 minutes.

[Quintaros]

Thing about Quints is that ice sculptures would raise the production costs just a bit ...

Yeah I was thinking about that afterwards.

My solution would be too cast a mold of the face of the actress playing the wife and to fill the mold with water and freeze it.  When I used to make movies as a kid, my brother and I took molds of each other's faces for creating heads to be used in decapitation sequences.  We used paper mache for the negative and plaster of paris for the positive a different material would have to be selected for the negative if it is to be filled with water as paper mache would just turn to mush.  Possibly a sealant could be used to waterproof the negative or alternatively a clear resin could be used for the positive that looked like ice when it set.  Resin however is quite expensive, so I think you'd be better off finding something that could withstand water.

Of course you would be able to take a mold of a child's face at all. I would suspect that if you could get the wife's done and onscreen then the audience would take it for granted that off-screen sculptures of the children also existed.

But the idea in itself is kind of like that one where Arnold has to beat up Sinbad for a toy ...

That occurred to me but I haven't seen "Jingle All the Way" so I didn't know how far the similarities would reach.

[Ben]

Mods, if you don't use Even's idea I'll kill you!

And why can't you take a mold of a child's face?

[Eggie]

I think he should work as 'A Santa' in a shopping centre. Allways a comedy goldmine.  

Edit: Heh heh, the infamous Ahr-nolddt christmas movie.

[evenwolf]

eggie, Bad Santa is a kickass movie of just that.

Ben, Quint - I once got a mold of my face done as a child but it was a pretty trying experience.  I think the problem with the ice sculptures is more a matter of conveying such an atmosphere to the audience.  It would take alot of lighting, grandeur angles, and set design for mods to make the scene look more than a few snowmen in his yard.


"Snow Side Story"
Two gangs confront each other in a park or boulevard, singing and dancing and flinging snow at eachtother.

The Sleighs -  gang comprised of kids who live on the left side of the street.  Lead by Spiff.

The Flakes -  gang comprised of kids who live on the right side of the street. Lead by Lumbardo

Spiff's brother, Spumoni, doesn't care much for the snowball fight. Spiff tries and tries to get Spumoni to join the Sleighs but he refuses as he continues to shovel snow off driveways to make money.

The Flakes have built a Snow woman dressed in a sexy short skirt, lipstick, and high heels. They name it "Korea".  

As the snowball fight continues, Spumoni is called to the right side of the street by an elderly woman.  He is shovelling her driveway and comes across Korea. He falls in love and sings to her "I once met some snow named Korea."  All hell breaks loose as both Spiff and Lumbardo get involved- each tells Spumoni he has nothing to do with a Flake. Spumoni's love for Korea surpasses his devotion to the left side of street, and ultimately he dies and Korea melts... making both the Sleighs and the Flakes realize how meaningless their fight is.

[Domino]

I know this might be off topic, but wasn't the setting for Bruce Almighty, Buffalo New York. Well it's to bad that most of the filming was done in a studio and Jim Carrey never even came to Buffalo to film the movie. All i remember from the promo's was him walking across Lake Erie.

Me, Myself and Irene, i consider to be the best Jim Carrey movie ever made. But if you want some old school Jim Carrey, check out the movie Once Bitten. I think it was one of his first films.

Shawn