There are few premises more wonderfully simple but effective than that of The Mask, a remnant of another world that appears in our own, and whoever finds it is impelled to wear it, being transformed into an eccentric but potentially dangerous being, depending on the person who wears it. Created by Doug Mahnke for DC Comics, who worked laboriously to introduce this character to audiences that had never encountered a story quite like this, the character always seemed destined to make it to the screen, with active efforts starting from its earliest days, with many different directors trying to take this notoriously violent and bleak comic book series and find a way to make it cinematic – nearly a dozen different actors were approached, and The Mask underwent many different versions, ranging in tone and genre, each one approaching the character in a slightly different way. It ultimately landed on the doorstep of Chuck Russell, who was the person who managed to get the job done, hiring perhaps the one person truly capable of playing this character, and going in search of a story that is both entertaining and wildly subversive. The Mask is not a perfect film – in fact, there are arguments to be made that this is the very definition of a decent film that loses a lot of credibility through the missed opportunities, which often define the film, especially since it deviates so wildly from the source material in terms of tone, an intentional choice designed to make it more appropriate for families, an unfortunate caveat that drove many studio films (not even mainstream film had to be appealing to all viewers, but if there was any chance that a story could be made less graphic or explicit to allow for a wider viewership, there was a good chance this was the direction it went), and prevented Russell from fully-realizing the potential this story had – but taken as it should be, which is an off-the-wall dark comedy that relies on physical humour more than anything else – The Mask is relatively successful, and earns its status as a very popular comedy, even if it had the potential to be a defining work in the genre, had it been slightly more cohesive.

Revisiting The Mask for the first time in over a decade is an interesting experience – this is not a film that has held up particularly well, but it also has many merits that cannot be understated (and very few of them are widely-recognized as such, with the more memorable parts of the film being those that aren’t all that commonly associated with it), which helps make it a relatively entertaining film, even if the world in which it inhabits could have been considerable improved with a more concise and thorough approach to the filmmaking process. The original version of The Mask that the studio was aiming to make was far more horror-based, which explains hiring Russell to helm the production – he had only made a few films by this point, but they were all relatively popular horror films, with A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob both being terrific entries into the sub-category of over-the-top, excessive 1980s horror that is built on seeing how far a director and his collaborators can take a simple concept – and while neither were original (in the sense that they were a sequel and a remake respectively), they had merits that showed Russell as being both a skilled storyteller and dedicated visual stylist. The decision to reconfigure the film to be more of a dark comedy (and thus removing some of the more important aspects of the comic books) was understandable, but ultimately hurt the film since what makes The Mask such a compelling character is his capacity for evil – Stanley Ipkiss may not be a particularly valourous character in any version, but the oscillation between milquetoast bank employee and a zoot-suit wearing troublemaker, which was initially inspired by the classic story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, seems to have been lost in this film, where the two characters are just different sides of the same heroic coin, leading to a lack of conflict and a loss of some of the more interesting ideas. It doesn’t take away from the merits that do exist – The Mask is not a bad film by any means – but it does prevent us from fully committing to this film and its often quite strange depiction of the world, which could have benefited from a more concise approach to adapting the material, rather than eliding the aspects that made it so compelling in the first place.

Most actors have a specific project that serves as their official breakthrough, where they finally manage to gain public recognition as well as a level of credibility within the industry. In the case of Jim Carrey, he had an entire year that served as his breakout moment, with the trio of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber joining The Mask in being the films that finally brought him attention and acclaim, even if they were all woven from the same overall thread of broad, slapstick comedy. Carrey is an astonishing performer – his control over every aspect of his characters, from their use of language to how he manipulates and contorts his body and face into some of the most bizarre positions is immediately effective in establishing him as a major voice in comedy – and while it seems almost redundant to praise him for these elements (considering he has always been celebrated for his comedic talents), it seems appropriate to look at one of the films that allowed him to reach a wider audience, more than he had ever achieved in his other projects, which included a supporting role in Earth Girls Are Easy and as the most memorable part of In Living Color, the show that played a vital role in his casting – he is a cartoon character brought to life, so it’s difficult to imagine anyone else playing this role, which is surprising considering Carrey almost lost the part to several other actors who were viewed as more bankable and recognizable. The film itself may not be very strong, but Carrey is effortlessly charming and wildly funny, playing into the eccentricities of both sides of the character, and seemingly enjoying every moment. No one seems to have more fun with acting than Carrey, and while he would give more nuanced, interesting performances later in his career, his more broad, over-the-top work will always be seen as the foundational text in building his career.

One aspect of The Mask that is retained without any hesitation is the visual style – the tone may be considerably softer, and the humour far less bleak, but Russell does work extraordinarily hard to make sure that the film at least resembles its source material, which was just as important, if not more so. We can excuse the jarring tonal shifts considering how much work was put into making this film visually distinct – and the bursts of colour and manner in which Russell frames the scenes making this look like a comic book come to life (which is an increasingly rare phenomenon, especially since the majority of modern adaptations of graphic novels and comic books tend to go for realism, which is an understandable but disappointing development) – the action is fast-paced and there isn’t a moment in this film that doesn’t feel like it was actively trying to hearken back to the original material, at least visually (the graphic violence and often jarring tone was unfortunately removed), which is one of its more promising aspects. The Mask works best as a series of vignettes following this character as he embraces his new identity and has fun with it, rather than having an overarching storyline that has to justify his growth into The Mask. There is even an argument to be made that The Mask is a film that would have worked better had it not attempted to shoehorn in the superhero aspect of the story, which is by far the weakest aspect of the film, since it feels forced and almost misplaced, despite being technically more faithful to the story. Like the other two Carrey films from this year, The Mask works the best when it is just allowed to be hopelessly silly, so the fact that it had to have bigger aspirations seems truly unfortunate since had it just been able to focus on the physical humour that come about in these weird vignettes, it’s undeniable that it would’ve been so much better, both in concept and execution.

Those with a penchant for the delightfully dark and absurd will doubtlessly find a lot of appreciation in The Mask, which is a film that works better in theory than it does in execution. There are many shortcomings we find throughout the film – the narrative is unbalanced and it feels like it lacks focus, and the attempts at humour sometimes don’t work in the moments that try and emphasize the comedic talents of any actor that isn’t Carrey or Cameron Diaz (in her debut role – it may not be a big part, but she’s as charismatic as ever in it), but who simply can’t match the madcap energy that defines these characters. However, while calling it a cult classic may be stretching the boundaries of such a classification perhaps slightly too thin (since it’s a mainstream comedy that is still appreciated by huge portions of the population), it has taken on a new life later years, being re-assessed as more than just an outrageous comedy. It doesn’t hold up quite as well as it thinks it does (and in terms of memorable comic-to-film adaptations from this, Dick Tracy is much better), but its unique heartfulness and ability to create and curate a range of different ideas in a way that is still very funny despite the shortcomings, is at least worth our time, enough to spend 100 minutes venturing through this strange world with these eccentric characters. Mindlessly entertaining but still very fun in its way, The Mask is never more than the sum of its parts, but it does achieve a certain charm that is difficult to deny, even if every other element of the film feels shoehorned into the overarching narrative, which I do hope we will see reworked in later years, perhaps in a form much closer to the original version, which remains extremely subversive and daring, the exact qualities this film unfortunately lacked.