Smokin', Everyone Was

Rating: 9/10 (13 April 2013)

Quick! (Just like the Mask) Let me tell you my story.
Honestly, I don't remember if I saw this in theatres. I probably did, because what I do remember in early 1996, is buying the VHS copy of this movie and I watched it a grand total of 5-6 times in under a week. I recall watching The Mask over and over and never getting sick of it. Sure, I had plenty of other movies to watch, but this onewas so much fun.
And it still is today. Recently, I bought this movie on BluRay, because I remember loving it, but haven't seen it in over 10 years. I seriously had just as much fun today as I did with those multiple viewings when I first bought the VHS. This movie really holds up from the many years since its release. It really is timeless.
Goody-Man Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) is transformed into the daredevil Mask figure when he finds, and dons an ancient wooden mask, and his inner desires come out tenfold. He goes for the girl, inadvertently pisses off the mob and takes care of business as "The Mask" superhero/cartoon character that mild-mannered Stanley couldn't.
The story isn't exactly new, even for 1994, but it's take on the age-old underdog/superhero is fresh, exciting and most of all HILARIOUS.
As a matter of fact, when prepping and watching the movie to write this review, I was puzzled on which genre this movie fit in: Action/Adventure + SuperHero? Or Comedy + the rest mentioned? And as I found myself laughing and laughing, even after my 5+ original viewings, I settled on: This MUST be a comedywith a close second of Action/adventure + SuperHero.
I think this is a very underrated film. It was a very old concept that was a ton of fun, thanks to Jim Carrey at his peak and newcomer, Cameron Diaz who (almost) stole every scene she was in. She was gorgeous and talented and it was hard to believe that this was her first outing. Honestly, as much as I do like her, but not so much every movie she's been in – though I do enjoy a lot of her films, she was fantastic in this. And I understand that dog was like a prop, I still LOVED little Milo. You have to suspend your disbelief a lot during this movie, so you might as well believe all the dog accomplished.
This movie is so straight forward to typical movie viewers and still, it's a lot of fun. And it contains one of my all-time favorite scenes/songs in any movie: The Cuban Pete dance segment. Pricelessas was this movie. See it! It still holds up today and despite all the smoking, especially if you're against that, it's a helluva lot of fun.