Writer, producer and director of some of the most successful comedies of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tom Shadyac scored big with such hit films as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994), “The Nutty Professor” (1996), and “Bruce Almighty” (2003) among his credits. Though critics often decried his movies as crass and lowbrow, they scored with audiences, who flocked to see such top box office draws as Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy engage in no-holds-barred physical comedy. Shadyac’s golden touch ultimately led him to helm what was reportedly the most expensive comedy ever made, “Evan Almighty”