Utterly pointless

Rating: 4/10 (28 October 2011)

Jim Carrey is widely known for a select few movies that he did in the mid to late 90's, along with a couple in the early 2000's. The Mask is one of the most well known of these films. Carrey stars as Stanley Ipkiss, a lowly bank clerk who stumbles upon a mysterious mask that turns him into a maniacal green faced nutcase who has the ability to do anything. The first thing he uses this mask for is to rob a bank, which sets off a whole series of events involving a ruthless band of gangsters and a beautiful night club singer named Tina Carlyle, played by Cameron Diaz in her very first feature film.
Now, despite this being a well known Jim Carrey film, it's also a very bad film. This is where physical humor blows up in your face and becomes unbearably moronic and not funny in the slightest. I honestly feel sorry for the talented and actually funny Jim Carrey for being subjected to such idiocracy in this film. He can't even save the overall pathetic attempts at comedy. The jokes and physical humor in this movie range from absolutely atrocious to almost worth a chuckle, but the latter is far and few between. The majority of this film is just dull and lifeless dribble that wants to be funny but can't find the right chords to stroke. It misses the mark again and again as it becomes more ridiculous and stupid as the film goes on. Needless to say, about ten minutes into the film I couldn't wait for it to end.
The problem with a film like this is that it knows its all about the comedy. It only seeks to deliver funny jokes and entertaining gags, rather than a deep and intellectual storyline and skillfully woven character development. The Mask obviously has neither of the aforementioned things, but it doesn't have the funny to replace them. The only way to really put it is that this is just not a funny movie. It isn't even painful to watch bad, it's just so dull, so lifeless, and so sloppily made and poorly constructed that I can't think anything of it.
I don't want to give the impression that I possess a searing hatred for The Mask, I only want it to be known that it is just not a good film and not something worth watching. It's a waste of an hour and forty minutes, not because it is the worst movie ever made, but because it is so underwhelming and so forgettable that you accomplish absolutely nothing by watching it. There are plenty of other Jim Carrey movies worth checking out before you waste your time with The Mask.