The Mask

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

Amazon.com

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if The Mask (or Jim Carrey’s in-your-face mugging in general) is actually funny, or just bizarre and grotesque. And sometimes it just doesn’t matter. Carrey plays a shy, Jerry Lewis-like nerd who discovers an ancient mask that magically transforms him into a green-faced, zoot-suited Tex Avery cartoon character with no inhibitions. As Roger Ebert said of Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the actor performs “as if he’s being clocked on an Energy-O-Meter, and paid by the calorie expended.” If that’s your kind of humor, you’ll love The Mask; if not, you may need a valium or two to sit through this one. Digital video disc extras include two deleted scenes and a commentary track from director Charles Russell. —Jim Emerson

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Praised at the time for Jim Carrey’s facial acrobatics as the titular hero, The Mask also had real charm in its use of period-ambiguous settings and intelligent use of its heroine, Cameron Diaz in her first screen role. Carrey is as interesting when he’s the put-upon Stanley Ipkiss as he is when he transforms into an amoral cartoon character (thanks to chance discovery of an ancient mask). When a sweet woman reporter tells him that he is the nicest man in town, it does not strike us as odd. The plot is a pretty standard one—the hero comes to realise that he can do everything for himself and does not need magical assistance—but outstanding performances by Peter Green as the gangster heavy and Peter Riegret as the irascible cop who has to make sense of things offers the film a bit more dramatic oomph. Add to this a couple of splendid song-and-dance routines and one of the most charming dogs in modern movies, and you have something moderately special. Roz Kaveney