On M List of Movie Reviews
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The Mask (1994)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
4/25
4/25:
The Mask hasn't aged well.
I thought it would go through easily but got bored into pieces and never laughed once. Given the same premise,
Darkman kept popping into my head as it was done so much better overall. The
writing is terrible, often ripping off other films to score some cheap points. I won't be surprised if Jim
Carrey made sure that it was a point of emphasis for future improvement (check out
Liar Liar).
However, I give everybody props for the special effects which is outstanding for 1994. It's like watching
a cartoon come alive. Yet I'm confused whether or not the movie is supposed to be for kids. There's a lot of
sex stuff going on. Oddly, Stanley commits a bank robbery but is let go in the long run despite everybody
knowing he's the guy with the mask.
Jim Carrey is slightly better when he has the mask on. Without it, he's dull. Either way, he has ordinary
one-liners and keeps getting outshined by the dog. I didn't realize that Cameron Diaz made her screen debut
in this. Again, she's oversexed for poor reasons. Do you think her character would've taken interest in Stanley
if he never wore the mask in the first place? Of course not. Peter Greene continues to play bad guys and
does well at it.
All in all, the only surprise of The Mask is that it didn't birth a franchise for Jim Carrey to generate
more ka-ching.