The Mask

The next entry in this month is the 1994 classic comedy, “The Mask.” Roger Ebert started his review out by saying, “The opening shots of "The Mask" look like they were salvaged from a desperately low-budget 1950s science fiction movie. Marine salvage operations lead to the rupture of ancient chest that has rested for ages on the bottom of the bay, and a curious wooden mask floats to the surface.”

Cut to sometime later where gloomy bank teller Stanley Ipkiss, a friendly nerd played by Jim Carrey, is staring into the sea and thinking of jumping off the bridge. He has just been kicked out from a nightclub – the latest in a string of humiliations. However, he has a nice demeanor, and when he eyes the mask floating with some liter, he thinks someone is floating ashore and dives in to save it.

The only thing he brings to land is the mask. However, later that night…

Transformation scenes are of course the basis of comic book fictions. Billy Batson shouts “Shazam!”, Clark Kent runs into a phone booth, Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, and in every case an unimportant weakling becomes a superhero. Ebert said, “No wonder adolescent boys respond to these stories so powerfully.”

Look at what happens to Stanley when he puts on the mask. Ebert described, “He is instantly transformed into a maniacal whirlwind of energy, dressed in a 1940s-style zoot suit - a cross between the Joker and Aladdin's genie, with elements of the Shadow.”

Ebert admitted, “"The Mask" is a perfect vehicle for the talents of Jim Carrey, who underwhelmed me with "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" but here seems to have found a story and character that work together with manic energy.” One of the main driving points on the movie had to have been the Mask character’s makeup (which Carrey described as being horrendous). It turns Carrey’s face into a much larger, comic-book spoof, but at the same time the looks are still able to move in a lifelike manner. Ebert noted, “The notes with the film explain that makeup expert Greg Cannom realized Carrey's exaggerated facial expressions are part of his essence, and didn't want them lost behind makeup.”

The end factor is a movie character who looks half real, half animated.

Ebert said, “And the director, Charles Russell, is able to use special effects to move effortlessly between what might be possible and what is certainly not, as the Mask whirls like a beebop dervish and triumphantly prevails in situations that would have baffled poor Stanley Ipkiss.”

The movie starts with Stanley as a miserable bank clerk, who is hopelessly love-struck by a beautiful customer, Tina Carlyle, played by Cameron Diaz. She flirts with him at his desk while recording a videotape of the vault of her boss, the evil Dorian Tyrel, played by Peter Greene, who runs the Coco Bongo Club, where, you guessed it, Tina is the elegant singer/dancer.

Cameron Diaz is a sight for sore eyes in the film, a true beauty with a gorgeous face, a beautiful smile, and a talent for comedic timing. This is her feature film debut, after a brief modeling career.

This was definitely not her last. Her chemistry with Stanley Ipkiss makes up a story that is in every way as unoriginal as it can be, and when she dances with the Mask, what happens is one of those parts when movie magic actually works.

The story also includes Richard Jeni as Charlie, Stanley’s best friend at the bank, who introduces him to the cryptic of the Coco Bongo Club, Peter Riegert as a cop who discovers the Mask’s tie appears to be made of the same fabric as Stanley’s appalling pajamas (Jim Doughan plays his partner), and Milo, Stanley’s dog, who is thankfully as smart as his owner.

Ebert said, “The art design on the movie goes for the lurid 1940s film noir look of a lot of superhero comic books, and the Coco Bongo Club looks recycled out of "Gilda" and a dozen other movies with elegant nightclubs.” Stanley’s apartment looks like a teenager’s room. The only thing that is missing is the door sign, “Keep Out!” The way the film looks is as fun as everything in here.

Ebert admitted, “I was not one of the admirers of "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." Millions were, however. I thought the story surpassed stupidity, and not in interesting ways. But I could sense some of Carrey's unrestrained energy and gift for comic invention, and here - where the story and the decor and the idea of the mask provide an anchor for his energy - Carrey demonstrates that he does have a genuine gift.” They say that one of the crucial parts of an actor is being able to communicate the happiness he takes in his performance. You could say “The Mask” found that for Carrey.

Carrey said on “Inside the Actors Studio” that he spent a good part of his childhood in front of the mirror. When he was grounded and was told to go to his room, he would start having a field day with the mirror. Carrey’s mother tried to discourage him by saying that he would see Satan, which Carrey found awesome. Carrey thought that he would be known as "The Man of 1000 faces." Here's an interesting tidbit: Carrey actually said he went up to about 150. How shocking is that? He actually kept track of how many faces he can make.

See the film if you haven’t, it’s a classic. I would probably say it’s another favorite Jim Carrey movie of mine. After watching it, you will be saying, “Somebody stop me!!” and “Smoking!”

When I was watching Angry Video Game Nerd’s look back on the Nintendo Power magazines, he showed an ad in it where people could win a cameo appearance and free tickets to see “The Mask 2.” However, it looks like that was scrapped because it was never made. That is until 2005, where the painfully bad “Son of the Mask” was made.

One of the essentials of comedy is a character who must do what he doesn’t want to do, because of the reasoning behind the condition. Ebert said, “As Auden pointed out about limericks, they're funny not because they end with a dirty word, but because they have no choice but to end with the dirty word -- by that point, it's the only word that rhymes and makes sense.” Lucille Ball’s entire career was finding herself in embarrassing ordeals and doing the next reasonable choice, however silly.

That’s why we have arrived at “Son of the Mask,” and its breaking of this rule. The movie’s story is if you wear a whimsical mask, you will become someone who behaves in anarchical ways. This sort of rule worked in the first movie. Carrey’s ability to contort his face made him into a caricature, he was gifted incredible abilities, he gave himself such insane energy. However, there were rules. There was a line between sanity where the craziness proceeded. “Son of the Mask” doesn’t have that line. It is completely insane, every time. The behavior in the movie is not inappropriate, outrageous, out of character, rude, or anything else except behavior.

Both “Mask” movies are inspired by the array of classic cartoons.  The protagonist of “Son of the Mask,” Tim Avery, played by Jamie Kennedy, is said by Ebert, “no doubt named after Tex Avery, the legendary Warner Bros. animator, although it is "One Froggy Evening" (1955), by the equally legendary Chuck Jones, that plays a role in the film. Their films all obeyed the Laws of Cartoon Thermodynamics, as established by the distinguished theoreticians Trevor Paquette and Lt. Justin D. Baldwin. (Examples: Law III, "Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter"; Law IX, "Everything falls faster than an anvil.")”

These laws, though apparently random, are constant in every cartoon. We know that Yosemite Sam can run off a cliff and keep going until he looks down, when he falls. Also, the Road Runner can run through a tunnel entrance in rock wall, but Wile E. Coyote will crash into the rock. Ebert noted, “We instinctively understand Law VIII ("Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent"). Even cartoons know that if you don't have rules, you're playing tennis without a net.”

The story of “Son of the Mask” is that the same mask from the first movie, is missing again. It shows up on the shores of a small river, and is found by Otis the Dog, who brings it home to the Averys, where we see Tim and his wife Tonya, played by Traylor Howard. Otis smells all over the Mask until it sticks to his face, and he is turned into a cartoon dog and travels insanely around the yard and the sky, to his shock. Eventually Tim puts on the Mask, and he is turned into a sensation at his advertising agency, with the ability to make amazing campaigns in one go.

Tim gets a quick promotion to the higher office, but without the Mask he is a failure. Also, the Mask cannot be found, because Otis has captured it and hidden it somewhere – although not before Tim puts it on before going to bed, and conceives his son Alvey, who is born with cartoonish abilities and finds them when he watches Michigan J. Frog.

Ebert admitted, “A word about Baby Alvey (played by the twins Liam and Ryan Falconer). I have never much liked movie babies who do not act like babies. I think they're scary. The first "Look Who's Talking" movie was cute, but the sequels were nasty, especially when the dog started talking. About "Baby's Day Out" (1994), in which Baby Bink set Joe Mantegna's crotch on fire, the less said the better.”

Ebert goes on to say, “I especially do not like Baby Alvey, who behaves not according to the rules for babies, but more like a shape-shifting creature in a Japanese anime. There may be a way this could be made funny, but "Son of the Mask" doesn't find it.”

Meanwhile, the Norse gods try to find the Mask. The ruler god Odin (the late British actor, Bob Hoskins) is livid at his son Loki (Alan Cumming) for losing the Mask, and sends him down to Earth to find it. Ebert describes, “Loki, who is the God of Mischief, has a spiky punk hairstyle that seems inspired by the jester's cap and bells, without the bells.” He finds out the location and makes so much trouble for the Averys, although obviously the dog cannot speak.

Ebert said, “But my description makes the movie sound more sensible than it is.” What we have here is the filmmakers doing whatever they want with their special effects, while the story, like Wile E. Coyote, keeps running into the wall.

Do not make the same mistake I did and watch this movie. You will feel the pain every single minute it is on. Just watch Nostalgia Critic’s review of it and you will know what I am talking about.

Oh boy what a relief. Now with that horrible sequel out of the way (which is also one of the worst sequels), check in next week for another classic Jim Carrey film in “Jim Carrey not in Sequels Month.”