Imagine a cyclone, a Tex Avery cartoon come to life, a zoot-suited fashionista and the wiggy energy of a vat of jumping beans and that still doesn’t capture Jim Carrey’s comic genius as Stanley Ipkiss, a repressed clerk who goes from zero to hero when he dons The Mask.
The mysterious mask Stanley finds allows him to do what he normally can’t – like woo Tina (debuting Cameron Diaz) and beat baddies.
Beneath all the loopy fun is the film’s heart: Does Stanley really need the mask to be the person he longs to be? Flat-out smokin’!