A comedy on the edge of the double figures but not quite there! This was released in 1994 and starring Jim Carrey this gave Jim the opportunity to highlight his zany side and was a perfect vehicle for him. I still cannot believe that the song in the middle of the movie was released as a single and got nowhere. It wasn’t a one man show as it also starred Peter Riegert, Peter Greene, Amy Yasbeck, Richard Jeni and introducing someone called Cameron Diaz. It was made on a budget of $23m and it went on to return $351.6m which is a huge success. Critically I like this movie much more than the others who gave a 6.9 out of 10 from IMDb and a better score of 77% from Rotten Tomatoes.
Onto the plot Stanley Ipkiss is a bank clerk and is nervous and insecure and put upon and just accepts it. Meanwhile a gangster mob boss owns the Coco Bongo nightclub but has visions on taking over as the big boss by robbing Stanley’s bank. He sends in his girlfriend who sings at the club into the bank and meets Stanley who is instantly attracted to her. He later sees her at the club after being thrown into a puddle by the bouncers his replacement car breaks down on the way home and he believes he sees someone drowing in the river so jumps in to save them. To discover it was a bin bag connected to a box with a wooden mask on top to give the illusion of a human face. The mask is magical and at night it turns Stanley into a green faced crazy superhuman. It brings out the underlying character of the wearer and Stanley a big cartoon fan has a fun and rebellious side so his alter-ego trashes the car repair shop and breaks into the bank to beat the gangsters to the banks money. This makes the mask a target of the gang and also means that the Mask has the confidence to go after the mob bosses girlfriend which is probably not a good move.
This takes me way back to the dates at the cinema, having no money and a crappy job that I loved and simpler life. Does that mean I reflect back on this movie as being better than it actually is. Well yes probably. I still find it funny and silly and absolutely perfect for Jim Carrey’s rubber faced madness. It fits him perfectly and suits his wacky humour. It introduced Diaz to the world in possible one of the shortest dresses seen on film. It made Jack Russell’s loveable again and brought light into a dark time.
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