The Mask

The Mask is a character you will never forget, and Jim Carrey was perfect for the role. It's simply one of the best movies based on comic books, I don't understand why did it get such a low score. It's also one of the best comedies of the 90s, you just can't go wrong with it.

It's hard to use Jim Carrey in a movie. He's very good at his rapid-fire mimicry routine, but how can it ever be anything other than a diversion from both character and story? (Very rarely is it a pleasant diversion. `Ace Ventura' was unendurable.) And yet, what else can you do with him?

The `Mask' solves the problem so neatly it almost cheats. The story is ABOUT someone with a double life - so by day, Carrey does all the character and story stuff, and by night, wearing the mask, he does his stand-up schtick. The two are as integrated as they need to be. It's pulled off with such an air of innocence I can't possibly complain. SOME of the clichés (those to do with the police especially) are so very worn out that even the most thorough of movie-goers is surprised to find them still alive; but the writer seems to have been honestly unaware that they were clichés, so that's okay.

I was told that the film is saturated with animation in-jokes. I couldn't spot very many. Stanley-with-the-mask has the soul of a Tex Avery cartoon character: I suspect that's all there is to it. The computer animation, or the computer-enhancement of Carrey's animation, is tastefully done. It never looks pasted over the top of the footage the way so much computer animation does. (`The Mask' failed to win an Oscar in the special effects category - like so many other more deserving films, it was beaten by `Forrest Gump'.) The Cuban dance numbers are irresistible, as is Stanley's pet dog. Sure, `The Mask' is no masterpiece, but it's a clever, charming film that richly deserved its runaway success.

Actually, I saw The Mask by accident. I wet to the cinema with my friend to watch something. When we arrived at the cinema and saw the poster showing The Mask we did not feel like watching it. But as it was a long way home we decided to go and see the film. And we enjoyed the movie so much that we decided to go to see it next day again. The first time we watched it we did not catch everything as our eyes were flooded with tears of laugh and our bellies hurt form laugh cramps. The story is really catching and Jim Carry is simply fabulous. The plot makes you think what it would be like if you had the mask and what you would do with it. Stanley Ippkiss in his funny quest made me be happy with what I am and what I have. The Mask is undoubtedly one of my most favorite comedies and it has a steady place on my video shelf.

It's years later, and it's still funny. Stupid but funny. Entertaining and stupid, but still funny. This isn't concidered a musical, but it has great musical numbers.

"The Mask" was the movie that introduced my family to Jim Carrey. And we all thought that it was great. Carrey plays unlucky bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss, who one night finds an ancient mask. When he puts it on, he turns into sort of a cartoon character; think Roger Rabbit on acid. The really great thing about the movie is that they just turn Carrey loose. Anything that you can imagine him doing, he does here. A particularly funny scene is when the police tell him to freeze, you'd better believe that he freezes! All in all, Jim Carrey's humor will never get old. He may have given his all-time funniest performance in "The Mask".