If you want to see ILM's latest resume entry in terms of effects, "The Mask" is a nice addition to their already impressive body of work. On just about any other level, though, it's pretty disappointing. It's an improvement over the comic book that inspired it, but the comic was barely a premise, much less a story. I was hoping the screenwriters could expand the basic idea -- geek finds mask, becomes "cool", wreaks havok -- into something that could en- gage and entertain for a couple of hours. Nope.
Jim Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a nebbish-y bank teller who is jerked around by everyone in sight -- until he finds the mask, a sort of magni- fying glass for the wearer's personality. Since Stan is a big-time animation fan (like most other film protagonists these days), after donning the mask, he becomes a Tex-Avery-style force of nature, zipping about, generally doing whatever he damn well pleases.
If this sounds like fun, it could be -- but Carrey doesn't know what to do with the nebbish side of the equation to make it empathetic or funny. We should be on Stanley's side as much as the Mask, but I found myself waiting for more effects because he was so uninteresting. The acting and writing are strictly from dishwater -- only the manic Carrey, shored up by ILM's rubbery visuals, gives the film spark. The script sets up most the rules the plot needs to work, but how the mask comes on or off -- either in terms of a parasite-mask that "wants" a host, or an increasingly addictive temptation to the wearer -- is poorly dealt with. "Beetlejuice" is a similar concept (with similar problems) that managed to be quirky and lively enough to leap the plot gaps. There's a fair amount of slack here, and the direction, while not with- out verve, isn't up to the task.
It's interesting to see cartoon physics applied to real actors this way, but it's mostly an excuse to trot out the same gags that were old in "Roger Rabbit". The great thing about the Tex Avery cartoons was the feeling that you never knew what you were going to get -- they were so chaotic that you went away feeling that if you saw them more that once, they might be different the next time. Here, you pretty much know what's on your plate, and (aside from the live-action application) oftimes they're even in the same context.
As for the supporting players, Peter Riegert has a couple of moments as the po- lice detective, and the fellow playing his simple sidekick manages to eke a few laughs. Cameron Diaz has presence, but is required to do little but stand around in tight dresses while the camera leers up and down her frame. The vil- lains are forgettable, and this really hurts the picture. Randy Edel- man's score neither hurts nor helps much. Someone looked at "Ace Ventura" and decided that there had to be another cute little dog -- although he is quite important at several points in the plot (almost as much as the Mask himself). Generally, Carrey was a funnier cartoon character in "Ace Ventura", and we got to see him be funny all the way through, instead of having to wait for laughs.
Not recommended.
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- Jeff "When I'm Finished With You, They'll Be Stumbling Over YOU In The Dark" Pidgeon
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