The Mask Reviews

I remember it very well when this movie was released, I must have been 14-15 years old at the time, and since there was quite some buzz about it, I went to see the damned thing in the movie theater. Back in 1994, Jim Carrey, a struggling actor for at least a decade, became instantly a huge star after releasing 3 box-office success in one single year (‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’, ‘The Mask’, ‘Dumb & Dumber’). In France, ‘The Mask’ was actually released before ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’, so it was my very first contact with Carrey. To be honest, even though the guy was funny, I actually preferred the bits when he was wearing the mask. Indeed, I had never seen anything like this before, some impressive special effects coming right off a Tex Avery cartoon, and I thought it was just awesome. It was also pretty neat to discover a very young Cameron Diaz who was only 22 years old and who looked just stunning at the time. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in the movie was nothing really amazing. Surprisingly, even though it seemed a no-brainer, they never managed to make a sequel with Jim Carrey and, instead, more than 10 years later, they made the abysmal ‘Son of the Mask’ without the funny guy. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, it is still a really fun and entertaining flick and it is definitely worth a look.

'The Mask' is funny and just epic, a movie that will entertain all thanks to the amusement of Jim Carrey as The Mask (and the dog) and the epic action scenes, just an interesting story, great acting and awesome action will make 'The Mask' a movie to be watched by everyone

One of my earliest favourite film, The Mask

also happens to be one of the earliest darkest.

Based on the popular cartoon series of the same

name (I was a big fan of them), the silver-screen

adaptation is equally funny and brilliant. The

first time when Stanley transforms into the

titular character was one of the earliest scariest

scenes I'd ever seen. From the age of 6 till 9-or-

10, I must've seen it over 30 times and I just saw

it again recently and it still remains one of my

absolute favourites.

Any other better actor for the titular character

than Jim Carrey? One of his damn greatest

screen roles to date and his most impressive so

far, although I also like him in Eternal

Sunshine. He handled his character flawlessly

and gave us one of craziest, zaniest heroes to ever

grace the silver-screen. Then we have (the then

juicy) Cameron Diaz in her debut. I like her

as an actress but I'm not too gaga about her looks

and all but her character, Tina Carlyle,

alongside Ming-Na's Chun-Li from Street

Fighter were two of my earliest childhood

crushes. Come to think of it, I think the first two

ever. Anyway, she was pretty good but I liked the

duo of Jim Doughan and Peter Riegert.

They were pretty good in their roles but the main

icing was Peter Greene as the main

antagonist Dorian Tyrell. He has always been a great character actor and has a great screen dominating power. If you remember at-least two of his cameos, then you will know what I'm talking about. Dorian is one of the best villains I've ever seen on the big screen.

So, the whole setup is amazing and Jim Carrey alongside most of the cast will keep you entertained throughout. A fun movie, and quite dark!

8.3/10

I was a fan of the Mask back when hardly anyone knew anything about the comicbook.
So for me, it was kind of surprising when I heard that a movie about this character was going to be released.
Now, since superhero movies were just starting to finally prove to be able to generate attendance from the general public, I knew that there was no way they were going to be able to translate the dark humor & the violent tone of the comic for the silver screen, so I just assumed that out of necessity, Hollywood was just to completely re-invent the character, and Hollywood being Hollywood, would just completely eff it up.
However, they somehow were able to make this reinvention work for the medium of a live action movie. Not perfectly, mind you, but with the bizarre ingredients that were required for the basis of this weird, reality-altering anti-hero, it came off pretty well & pretty consistent. While the Mask doesn't hold the weight of any of its comicbook colleagues of this genre, it held it's own enough to be succesful at the box office & not spawn the ire of nerds like me who, especially at the time, just wanted to see these kinds of films earn a little more respect.

"It's party time. P, A, R, T. Why? Because I gotta!"

Nobody seems to bend the human form more than Jim Carrey, an undeniably great actor who could be the love child of Lawrence Olivier and a pot of play-do. The Mask capitalises on Carrey's talents, giving him free rein to do anything he conceivably can with his spaghetti straw of a body..with hilarious results. Scene after scene is delivered through a vehicle of slapstick that lightens your heart, watching Carrey do what Carrey does best. My friend's cannot spend an evening together without reeling off pretty much the entire screen play, one liner after one liner of quotable gold.

However, the other day, I taught an English class, as we discussed Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', I was all of a sudden awakened to the subtle moral messages and wittily parodic nature of 'The Mask'. Like so many before me I was too concerned with the bright lights and smoke that is JC to pay any real attention to the narrative.




The fundamental ideal in this movie discuss that age old, Freudian concern with the clash between id and ego, the turmoil humans face between primal instinct and social constraint. The Mask, is not only a modern interpretation of a canon classic, but a post modern deconstruction of the anguish of modern man. I know this sounds like tripe, but stay with me. Stanley Ipkiss is the archetypal put upon man(Dr Jekyll), fighting every instinct to unleash wroth upon a world that spurns him. The Mask (Mr Hyde) is the instinct and fury personified, a human embodiment of humanity's most primal urges, unconstrained by humanity, because he isn't human. Maybe I'm getting a bit above myself here, I am not saying The Mask is a cultural icon, we wont be putting it in a time capsule for future generations, but I am saying it is to be enjoyed on more than just the level of JC's stunning performance.

It's all very clever, this movie addresses an issue that has never left the consciousness of modern man, however we fail to feel any sense of foreboding, because Jim Carrey dressed as a french man is hysterically funny.

This movie, i grew up on this and three other movies. It was nothing but a fun and hilarious, roll on floor laughinh, piss my pants, kind of comedy. but after a while, it just becomes hilarious. i loved how jim carrey acted with the madk on, it really showed how every one has at least two sides to themselves. i would watch this all the time... i think it was the first jim carrey movie i saw. i used to call jim steve... but anyways, this was a great movie that in my opinion deserves 15/10 stars. i'm not gonna change it and you can't make me.

man!! this movie is funny and cool!!!!!!!!!!! this is so funny that i can
watch it over and over and over some more. THIS IS FREAKIN FUNNY!!