| The Mask (film) | |
 | |
| Director: | Chuck Russell |
| Writer(s): | Mike Werb |
| Release Date: | July 29, 1994 |
| Running Time: | 101 mins. |
| More Information | |
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| Merchandise | Characters |
The Mask is a 1994 comedy Based on on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. In 2005 a sequel called Son of the Mask was released.
Plot[]
Stanley Ipkiss, a clerk in an Edge City bank, is a shy, luckless romantic who is regularly bullied by nearly everyone around him, including his boss, his landlady, and car mechanics. His only friends are his Jack Russell Terrier Milo and his co-worker Charlie. Meanwhile, gangster Dorian Tyrell runs the exclusive Coco Bongo nightclub while plotting to overthrow his boss Niko. Tyrell sends his singer girlfriend Tina Carlyle into Stanley's bank with a hidden camera, in preparation to rob the establishment.
Stanley is smitten with Tina, and she seems to reciprocate, but this is the only good thing to happen to Stanley on this particularly miserable day. After being denied entrance to the Coco Bongo, he is stranded with a broken-down rental car at the city's filthy harbor, where he finds a mysterious wooden mask. He takes the object home and jokingly puts it on. The mask wraps around his head, transforming him into a wackily-suited, green-headed, figure, "The Mask", a trickster unbound by personal inhibitions or the laws of physics, who cheerfully exacts comical revenge on some of Stanley's tormentors and terrifies a street gang that attempts to mug him.
The next morning, Stanley encounters world-weary Edge City detective Lieutenant Kellaway and newspaper reporter Peggy Brandt, both of whom are investigating the Mask's activities of the previous night. Despite these threats, the temptation to again use the mask is overwhelming and he puts it back on that evening. Needing money to attend Tina's performance at the Coco Bongo, the Mask noisily interrupts Tyrell's bank robbery and steals the targeted money while one of Tyrell's henchmen is shot by police responding to the disturbance.
The Mask buys entry into the Coco Bongo, where he "rocks the joint" by dancing exuberantly with Tina in front of the cheering clientèle. At the end of the dance he is confronted by Tyrell, who shoots off a part of the Mask's tie, which transforms back into Stanley's distinctive pajamas. The Mask escapes, while Tyrell is temporarily arrested for the bank robbery by Lt. Kellaway (who also finds the pajama scrap).
Kellaway confronts Stanley at his apartment, just as a weary Stanley discovers all the bank money stuffed in his closet. Stanley later consults an expert on masks who tells him that the object is a depiction of Loki, the Norse god of darkness and mischief. Despite this, and with both Tyrell and Lt. Kellaway hunting for him, a more confident Stanley stands up to his boss and arranges for Tina to meet the Mask at the local Landfill Park. The meeting goes badly when the Mask's advances scare Tina away and Lt. Kellaway arrives and attempts to arrest him. The Mask toys with the enraged officer before zooming out of the park and tricking a large group of Edge City police officers into joining him in a mass-performance production of the song Cuban Pete. Stanley manages to get the mask off and Peggy helps him escape, but then betrays him to Tyrell for a mob bounty. Tyrell tries on the mask and becomes a demonic monster, whereupon Stanley is literally dumped in Kellaway's lap with a green rubber mask and is thrown into jail.
Tina sympathetically visits Stanley in his cell, where he urges her to flee the city. She attempts to do so, but is captured by Tyrell and taken to his raid of a charity ball at the Coco Bongo, hosted by Niko and attended by the city's elite. The Masked Tyrell kills Niko and prepares to destroy both the club and Tina. Meanwhile, Milo helps Stanley break out of his cell, and they go to the club to stop Tyrell.
After brief initial success with the assistance of Charlie, Stanley is captured. Tina tricks Tyrell into taking off the mask, which is recovered by Milo, turning the dog into a cartoonish pitbull who defeats Tyrell's men, while Stanley fights Dorian himself. Stanley then recovers the mask and wears it one last time, using its abilities to save Tina by swallowing Tyrell's bomb, and then flushing Tyrell down the drain of the club's ornamental fountain. The police arrive and arrest Tyrell's remaining henchmen. The city's mayor witnesses most of this (and deducing that Tyrell was the Mask from the start) and orders Lt. Kellaway to release Stanley.
As the sun rises, Stanley, Tina, Milo and Charlie take the mask back down to the harbor, where Tina and Stanley throw it back into the water. While Stanley and Tina share their first kiss, Charlie attempts to recover the mask for himself, only to find Milo swimming away with it.
Cast[]
- Jim Carrey as Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask
- Peter Greene as Dorian Tyrell
- Cameron Diaz as Tina Carlyle
- Orestes Matacena as Niko
- Peter Riegert as Lt. Mitch Kellaway
- Jim Doughan as Detective Doyle
- Richard Jeni as Charlie Schumaker
- Amy Yasbeck as Peggy Brandt
- Jeremy Roberts as Bobby the Bouncer
- Ben Stein as Dr. Arthur Neuman
- Ivory Ocean as Mitchell Tilton
- Reginald E. Cathey as Freeze
- Nils Allen Stewart as Orlando
- Denis Forest as Sweet Eddy
- Eamonn Roche as Mr. Dickey
- Nancy Fish as Mrs. Peenman
- Joely Fisher as Maggie
- Blake Clark as Murray
- Meadow Williams as Pebbles
- Johnny Williams as Burt Ripley
- Tim Bagley as Irv Ripley
- Max as Milo (Stanley's dog)
Production[]
The film was shot in California.
External links[]
- The Mask at the Internet Movie Database
- Template:Amg movie