Fantasy/comedy beautifully done. Carrey does his best work here.

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2005)

It is not easy for me to say this because Jim Carrey is one of my favorite actors but nothing he has done since The Mask is very remarkable or put in another way, his performance here is still his best. I didn't much care for the Ace Ventura films even though they did have a great Carrrey performance. His dramatic roles are mostly admirable but doesn't really stick with you for that long. The Mask was and still is a movie where almost everything was so beautifully done that everything else he has done feels mediocre. Especially, when you look at his other venture into fantasy film with "The Grinch..." it is but a mere shadow of the sublime universe that is created here.
Every time we see a shot of Carrey here is like watching a hundred firecrackers going off at the same time. His Ipkiss character and what happens to him is almost every boy's dream come true. Who among us haven't wished that we could let go of all of our inhibitions and get the girl of our dreams in the process? The production design in the entire movie is also pure gold with bright colors and a film noiresque ambiance. The villain, played by Peter Greene, is also truly frightening and Cameron Diaz has never looked better. One fault i can point out is the policemen characters. They are just too buffoonish and belong on a second rate kiddie show. Other than that everything is so well accomplished that a sequel which was initially planned would have ruined the first film. I'm glad that as of this date it still hasn't been made.
Jim Carrey might have ambitions to be more than just a comic actor but I think that he should be proud of this film and if he never wins an Oscar he should still consider himself the best comedic actor of the 90's. Too bad there isn't such a category.