BEFORE: I suppose I could keep with the "Fantasy Worlds" idea, and watch "Jumanji" or "Night at the Museum 2", but I'm desperate to get to my superhero movies. I intended to start with "Fantastic Four 2", but I just noticed the connection between "Inkheart" and this film - with a man able to bring fantasy to life.
I've also got a bunch of Jim Carrey films on the list, but I'll save the rest for later on...
THE PLOT: Bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss is transformed into a manic super-hero when he wears a mysterious mask.
AFTER: I avoided this film for years, because I wasn't really a Jim Carrey fan when this came out - I had only known him from "In Living Color" and ads for "Dumb & Dumber", and he just seemed like a moron to me. Of course, this was before "The Truman Show" and "The Man in the Moon".
There's not much for me to say about this film that hasn't been said before - it's sort of hard for me to judge it when it's so over-the-top and impossibly ridiculous. Plus the movie is constantly breaking the fourth wall, with the Mask mugging for the camera and cracking jokes right to the audience.
So, how do I judge something like this? I can't go by believability, since the concept and all the gags are so outrageous. I have to fall back on how entertained I was, overall. I liked the Tex Avery-style gags, and the dog was a great performer. Carrey was only about half as much of a moron as I thought he'd be in this one.
In some ways, though, this should be regarded as a "classic" of the comic-book movie genre, since it was released prior to all the big-ticket movies like "Spider-Man", "X-Men", "Hulk" and "Iron Man". Maybe it's appropriate that I started the chain with this film after all, since it sort of jump-started the trend back in 1994, or at least got the movie industry to think outside the Superman & Batman box.
Also starring Cameron Diaz, Peter Riegert, Richard Jeni, Amy Yasbeck, with cameos from Ben Stein, and Reg E. Cathey (aka Querns from "Oz", and my wife is currently watching him on "The Wire")
RATING: 5 out of 10 moneybags
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