It’s party time! P-A-R-T-why? Because I gotta!

Jim Carrey’s weird, wacky and wonderful film about the downtrodden, unfortunate Stanley Ipkiss. A dramatic story about gangsters is presented in a way that looks like it should be creepy but proves to be a fun take on the idea.

Stanley Ipkiss himself is a nice guy, he basically lets himself get walked on to not cause a fuss and manages to be a lovable character that the audience can’t help but sympathise for. Then, after seeing something on TV about how everyone wears a mask to be socially acceptable Stanley finds the Mask that changes his life, bringing out his id and giving him all the powers of a cartoon character.

The Mask itself isn’t a good object. There’s a part of the film that suggests it may contain the spirit of Loki, god of mischief. The Mask only works at night and it changes how it works depending on the person wearing it but it is always up for trouble.

Cameron Diaz stars as Tina Carlyle who we’re first introduced to with a close up of her leg, then watch as she strolls across a bank in a sexy red dress with men falling over themselves to help her. This pretty woman with little personality idea is all she is for the first half of the film but she does gain some personality eventually. The early scene in the bank introduces us to the villain.

A villain who, compared to the Mask, isn’t very interesting. Just a gang boss who relies too much on goons to do his dirty work. He’s bad to his men, bad to anyone he doesn’t like and bad to Tina who’s supposed to be someone he cares about. He’s easily disliked which is good contrast to our hero.

Side characters like random police men, the detectives and even Stanley’s landlady or the guys in the garage all play their parts well. We get some brilliant dialogue and awesome dance scenes in the film too.

The Mask is good. It’s not mind-blowing but it’s a nice way to spend a few hours as you laugh along to the silly but charming movie, it’s not too violent and it isn’t dark. It’s just a bit of fun with Jim Carrey at his best.