Count Olaf’s alter egos Dr Stephano and Captain Sham provide some of the film’s darkest moments, including the downfall of both Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly) and Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep). Much like Tom Shadyac and the Farrelly Brothers before him, Silberling completely opens the floor to Carrey’s rich application, clearing the stage for the actor’s unique brand of improvised lunacy. Throughout the film Carrey adopts a variety of guises, some that can be best described as wizened birds of prey. If that wasn’t enough, there’s Jude Law as the fourth-wall breaking narrator of the piece, playing Snicket himself. The plight of the orphans is a strange experience indeed, simultaneously offering us sorrow and dark humour, grief and glory.

They are consequently thrown into the care of Olaf, their “fourth cousin three times removed”, whose cruel eyes are fixed on the Baudelaire’s inheritance. Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are siblings who’re suddenly orphaned due to an ‘inexplicable’ blaze that wipes out their parents’ mansion. It’s fair to suggest that Neil Patrick Harris has his work cut out for him in the new Netflix mini-series.ĭirector Brad Silberling’s adaptation captures the events of ‘The Bad Beginning’, ‘The Reptile Room’ and ‘The Wide Window’, the first three novels in Snicket’s 13-part children’s series. As the preposterous, conniving Count, however, the Canadian actor delivers some of his strongest work, commanding scenes as only he knows how. The film was originally intended to be the first part in a franchise but failed to make back its $140m budget, which perhaps explains why the legacy of Carrey’s Count Olaf now feels somewhat diminished.

Not least because it contains elements of many of his greatest comic characters, from Ace Ventura to the Mask and the Grinch. Jim Carrey’s sensationally unhinged performance in the 2004 adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events should be remembered as one of his very best.

Jim carrey series of unfortunate events