Carrey's range is in an entirely different league then Ferrell. Man on the Moon, Eternal Sunshine etc.... Carrey is an actual actor, Ferrell is a comedian. Ferrel is funny at what he does but he has no range. I love watching Ferrell movies -- but i also know what to expect and what not to expect.
I'd go with Carrey. I don't think the nerd in me will ever forget when he was performing the soundtrack to Star Trek (ep. Amok Times) while donned in clad armor and fighting his friend to the death at Medievil Times.
That's more range than Ace Ventura vs. the Mask vs. Dumb & Dumber If you're goign to bring in Carrey's serious roles, sure you could say Carrey has more acting range -but I'm just talking about comedic range.
Sketch comedy: Ferrell > Carrey Movies: Carrey > Ferrell IMHO, at least. I never really liked In Living Color. Carrey's characters in particular used to really annoy me. His film work on the other hand, has been some of the funniest stuff I've ever seen. I loved Ferrell on SNL, but as the Master of Baiting pointed out, his idiot schtick is wearing thin.
i haven't seen Talledega Nights but just from the trailers, it seemed i was able to predict everything Ferrel was gonna do. the cougar scene, saw it coming and not really funny. the needle in his thigh and then screaming, saw it coming. screaming "Oprah help me!" (or something like that) while on fire... but that's just one movie. i also thought Elf was a dumb movie and not funny. I thought Dumb and dumber was a dumb movie but i found it funny. i like Ferrel, but Carrey's got better screen presense and more comedic range.
Let Chris Kattan decide. I'll take Carrey. Ferrell thinks he's funny when he's really not. His sketch stuff on SNL were pretty stupid and silly (the cheerleader skits really made me want to vomit). But some things (cowbell skit) were funny. But Ferrell wasn't what made the skits funny. It's amusing, just not funny. To be fair, I don't consider either of them comedians anymore. However it's a joke that Carrey is dating a p*rn star.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Night at the Roxbury. I was pleasantly suprised when I saw that. I thought it would be stupid, but it was a pretty funny movie...
Agreed with many posters here. Ferrell was much funnier when he was with SNL. His movie characters by far are disappointing. Carrey has more range and is a better actor, although his physical expressiveness can sometimes be over the top.
jim carrey is slipping into the robin williams mold, trying to be a serious actor and all that stuff.
I'm torn. I love all the In Living Color Jim (James) Carrey stuff as well as the majority of his movies while I absolutley hated about 90% of the Will Ferrel SNL stuff and loved ALL his movies. I went ahead and voted Jim Carrey, but it was close.
underoverup, I saw the same thing happen to Tom Hanks, and (the poor man's) Jamie Foxx. In 1994 when Dekembe Mutombo was on the David Letterman show and the NBA Finals were about to start, Dave asked whom Deke would like to see win it all between Olajuwon and Ewing. Since Dream was from Africa (same as Deke), and Patrick was from Georgetown (same as Deke), he could be swayed either way. Deke's answer: "When you see two men who've been walking through the desert for a while, and there's only one glass of water for both of them to reach, you kind of want BOTH to get that water, because you love them both and want BOTH to drink." So Deke had to answer evenly and everyone applauded him. I guess what I am trying to say here is that I couldn't decide and I want to see Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey duke it out on the basketball court, which will NEVER happen. TOO MANY great lines, too many great characters on both's agenda. Don't make me cut my kid in half, King Salomon.
Let us not forget that "night at the Roxbury" was originally a skit developed entirely by Jim Carrey. I think both are great, but Will just hasn't brought the range to his character's that Jim has. That said, I used to love Will Ferrell, but I agree that all of his movies have him playing the crazy-zany character, and it gets less and less funny as they keep coming.
that's funny, tom hanks did start off as a comedian. I know we are comparing funny, but jim carrey in "The Majestic" won't even allow me to make the comparison.
Of course it's overrated. It took 5 years for people to acknowledge it. The only reason people think it's funny now is because of the cult following. It's Walken that makes the skit amusing, but again it wasn't funny. Just like every typical Will Ferrell skit. In my opinion, SNL went out and tried to hire Ferrell clones (Fallon for instance) who think they're funny but aren't. That, along with the piss poor writing (that somehow leads to Tina Fey getting multiple Emmy's...WTF?!?!) contributed to the quick deterioration of a decent, yet funny television series.
