Clichéd but solid entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2007)

The spirit of the Norse god of mischief Loki is trapped inside a green wooden mask, and anyone donning the mask during nightime unleashes that spirit and obtains vast powers. It also brings out the deep inner repressed character of a person, be it for good or for evil. For the character of Stanley Ipkiss, the deep inner self is a collage of old movies and cartoons with the soul of a hopeless romantic thrown in for good measure.
The idea of the Mask is a unique story idea, and it provides the perfect vehicle for Jim Carrey to act out his palette of comic abilities.
Unfortunately the story is also riddled with clichés: the loser male figure defeats the villain, becomes the hero and wins the girl, the cop is bumbling and uptight, the one-dimensional crime-lord is pure evil, and so on.
But one can forgive the clichés and get lost in the pure spectacle that is Jim Carrey doing his thing. It is hard to envision this film having been successful without Carrey as the lead. Cameron Diaz also puts in a respectable performance as the love interest in this career launching endeavour.
While it's no cinematic masterpiece, the Mask is fun and highly entertaining. I would like to see more from story creators Michael Fallon and Mark Verheiden.