How Jim Carrey’s ‘Unsanctioned Buffoonery’ Saved Batman Forever

admin June 17, 2025

It’s been 30 years since Jim Carrey dawned the green spandex as for his turn as the Riddler in Batman Forever. For the thirtieth anniversary of Batman Forever, we’re going to take a look back at Jim Carrey’s live-action Riddler and talk about how his Riddler saved Batman Forever.

The story starts in 1992 with the release of Batman Returns. It turns out that the second Batman movie from Tim Burton caused quite the moral panic. Parents were outraged that such a “violent” PG-13 film could be marketed to children. Warner Bros. took notice and decided to change the direction of the new film.

1994 was quite a year for Jim Carrey. Funny moments were sprinkled all over the three absolute classics he dropped that year. The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective each feature some of the best Jim Carrey moments and the absolute funniest Jim Carrey lines. All that success led him directly to Batman.

While Batman Forever (1995) is not considered one of the best Batman movies, it does have some superb Jim Carrey funny moments. We’ll talk about the tension on-set between Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey as well as play the Jim Carrey Interview from Live with Norm MacDonald where he talks about it. And finally we’re going to go deep into the nuances of Jim Carrey’s Riddler performance and how he prepares for all his comedy roles.

This video was originally published on CineFix on Mar 5, 2022, as part of IGN’s The Batman coverage.

For more on The Batman (2021), be sure to check out our IGN Review:

Here’s a link to The Batman Trailer:

Interview with The Batman Riddler, Paul Dano:

And be sure to check out our Robert Pattinson interview about The Batman:

For all your superhero and action needs, stay tuned to IGN.