Like Looney Tunes Cartoons Brought To Life

Rating: 10/10 (20 November 2002)

When you get someone like Jim Carey it's often hard to find a vehicle that's suited to their talents. No such problem here, with the manic, hyper energetic comedian fitting the role with utter ease. It was as if the whole idea was written with him in mind.
Actually it's more likely that someone sat down one day & decided to see just how far they could push the new digital special effects of the day. Whatever, the results are pure lunacy.
Carey, as mild mannered, down trodden Stanley Ipkiss is a bubbling pot of seething desires & emotions ready to boil over but forever with the lid firmly clamped down. He plays the part supremely, not overly sentimental (something of an achievement in today's Hollywood!) & always giving an air of the raging spirit within that is just itching to get out. It's like watching someone walk a tightrope.
Jim Carey as The Mask is something of a whirlwind, quite literally. Who can forget the two stand out lines when the Mask takes over; "Somebody stop me!" & "Smokin'!". These two lines sum the character up in a marvelous way.
His dog, Milo, is also well done. How on earth some Hollywood exec didn't insist that it become some sentimental pooch I'll never know. Yes it is far too intelligent, far too useful, far too convenient, but it is excusable in the context of the film.
The marginal story line about gansters, a bank heist & so on is merely a framework for Carey as the Mask to perform increasingly manic acrobatics on the screen. The references to cartoons, especially Wiley Coyote & Road Runner (perhaps the best, most imaginative cartoons ever made) are obvious. There is even a direct steal from a Bugs Bunny cartoon where it appears that the audience has stood up in front of you to applaud a performance as Carey gets handed an Oscar.
The cops & the villains are all about as dumb as each other, which is the reasons why they're there. Carey as the Mask is the focus of all this, after all. Peter Riegert as Lt Kellaway & Peter Greene as the villanous Dorian Tyrell do the job well though & Tyrell even gets a shot at wearing the Mask with somewhat muted results. Let's face it, nothing compares to Carey's version.
The pace wanes a little towards the end, but still contains an interesting twist, where the love lorn Carey discovers the truth about Amy Yasbeck's reporter & Cameron's Diaz's night club singer. It is not what you'd expect. There are also some surprisingly good musical numbers, I bet that took some explaining in the studio board meetings!
All in all a good laugh & the mark of this film is that several years later, after watching at least 3 times since release, a recent TV showing still made me laugh again.
There'll never be another, perhaps that's as well as I doubt that the material would be so forthcoming, although it's a shame there won't be another helping of The Mask.