Review: The Mask

Bland, mild-mannered bank teller Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) discovers a new, hyper-dynamic personality when he wears a strange mask he found one night. He hopes with his newfound extroverted persona to woo the bodacious club singer Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz), but it also ends up getting him in trouble with both the police (Peter Riegert) and criminals (Carlyle’s mobster boyfriend Dorian, played by Peter Greene). Richard Jeni plays Ipkiss’ fellow bank employee, whilst Amy Yasbeck plays a reporter.

It’s been at least 20 years since I last saw this 1994 Dark Horse comics adaptation from director Chuck Russell (the excellent “A Nightmare on Elm St. 3: Dream Warriors”, and the recent John Travolta-turns-Charles Bronson flick “I Am Wrath”) and screenwriter Mike Werb (the idiotic “Gnaw: Food of the Gods II”, the idiotic and overrated John Woo film “Face/Off”). Having re-visited “Ace Venture: Pet Detective” in recent years to a much lesser reaction than when I first saw it, I was extremely trepidatious about re-visiting another Jim Carrey film. I remembered liking this one even more than “Ace Ventura” though, so I thought maybe it was a slightly safer bet. It’s not like it was ever thought to be a great film anyway. Even in 1994 I just thought of it as rock-solid.

Well, I’m happy to say that this one holds up pretty closely to my original feelings as a 14 year-old sitting in the cinema. Basically a live-action cartoon, it’s the perfect vehicle for Carrey’s special brand of rubber-faced, crazy-voiced, hyperactive comic antics. Unlike “Pet Detective” however, I didn’t find myself tiring of those antics in short order, nor is the humour spotty. In this one, Carrey gets two play two very different personalities whilst essentially being the same guy; Mild-mannered ‘nice guy’ Stanley Ipkiss and…whatever the hell kind of live-action cartoon character he becomes after putting on the mask. He plays the former character quite well without trying to shoe-horn much of his schtick in. That’s important if you want the audience to relate to this guy for two hours as being someone from planet Earth. However, the film really takes off once he puts the mask on and both Carrey and the FX team allow their minds to run completely bloody bonkers. Ipkiss with the mask on becomes a wild, anarchic mixture of Carrey’s hilarious “In Living Colour” character Fire Marshall Bill and Bugs Bunny on speed. It’s schtick-y but a lot of fun, and whilst “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is probably his best film to date, this film shows Carrey in full comedic flight yet controlled just tightly enough by Russell that he doesn’t become irritating.

There’s lots of classic moments and lines in this one, and even the FX are still pretty fun in 2019, which you can’t say of too many films of the early-to-mid 90s in my view. I also think that Cameron Diaz gives one of the most impressive debut performances I’ve ever seen. Yes, I’m actually serious about that. It looks deceptively simple until you think about it: Diaz isn’t just playing dumb here. She’s tasked with playing someone who is playing dumb, which is not the same thing. It’s easy to see how she became a star after this, not to mention this is also the best she’s ever looked on screen, if I’m allowed to momentarily objectify a woman playing a character who is essentially objectified in the film as a figure of bodacious lust. Elsewhere in the cast, the late Richard Jeni plays the second banana kinda role (AKA The Jim Belushi circa mid-80s role), and does it rather well, though the real scene-stealer among the supporting cast is probably a dog named Moose playing the part of Stanley’s dog Milo. The clever Jack Russell Terrier is perhaps best-known for playing Marty Crane’s dog Eddie on “Frasier”. Peter Greene doesn’t seem to turn up in many high profile films in the last decade or so, but for a while there his strange blend of Nic Cage and Eric Roberts served himself quite well on screen. He’s fine here as the chief bad guy. Shot by John R. Leonetti (“Insidious”, “The Conjuring”), it’s a good-looking film, especially in its focus on the colour green throughout.

Holding up better than any of Carrey’s other 90s vehicles, the reason is pretty clear: Cartoons, if they’re good, hold a universal appeal and this film plays a lot like a live-action “Looney Tunes” cartoon. Think of the main character as a blend of Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil. The crime plot isn’t outstanding, but there isn’t a bad performance in the entire film. Funny, crazy, a little weird, this is good fun.

Rating: B-