The Mask

The Mask is a 1994 action comedy film, based on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. This film was directed by Chuck Russell, and produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and New Line Cinema, and originally released to movie theatres on July 29, 1994. The film stars Jim Carrey as Stanley Ipkiss (also known as The Mask), who was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Golden Raspberry Award for his role; and Cameron Diaz, in her film debut as Tina Carlyle. The movie received one Oscar nomination, for visual effects. The film marked Carrey's 17th film role. It was shot entirely in Los Angeles.

Stanley Ipkiss, a clerk at Edge City bank, is a shy luckless romantic fop who is regularly bullied by nearly everyone around him: his boss, landlady, car mechanics, and even supermarket check-out girls; his only friends are his small but heroic dog Milo and a cocky but good-natured co-worker named Charlie. Dorian Tyrell, the local gangster, runs the exclusive Coco Bongo nightclub, while plotting to overthrow his boss Niko. Tyrell sends his girlfriend Tina Carlyle into Stanley's bank with a hidden camera, in preparation to rob the establishment.

When Tina walks into the bank, Stanley and Charlie cannot help but to stare at her revealing dress and voluptuous figure. Tina sits at Stanley's desk, where he tries to act cool in front of his new stunning client, but ends up making himself look like a fool. Tina expresses interest in his tie, and pulls it toward her, making it look like she and Stanley are about to kiss, but this is the only good thing to happen during this particularly miserable day; after being kicked out of the Coco Bongo, Stanley gets stranded with a broken-down loan car at the city's filthy harbor, where he finds a mysterious wooden mask. When he takes the object home and puts it on, it wraps itself around his head, and transforms him into a model of his suppressed side: a wackily-suited green-headed exuberant wild man, "The Mask", who cheerfully exacts revenge on some of Stanley's tormentors, along with turning the tables on an unfortunate street gang that attempts to terrorize him.

The next morning Stanley has a run-in with world-weary Edge City detective Lieutenant Kellaway and hustling 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 cash 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", dancing exuberantly with Tina in front of the cheering clientèle and kisses her before being confronted by Tyrell, who shoots off a part of The mask's tie, which transforms into the clothes Stanley was wearing at the time of transformation into The Mask. The Mask bounces away, while Tyrell is temporarily arrested for the bank robbery by Kellaway, who also finds the piece of Stanley's distinctive pajamas at the club.

Stanley consults an expert on masks, who tells him that the object is a depiction of Loki, the Norse god of darkness and mischief (and thus works only at night). Despite this, and with both Tyrell and Kellaway hunting down his trail, a more confident Stanley stands up to his boss and arranges for Tina to meet his friend, The Mask, at the local Landfill Park. The meeting goes badly, with The Mask's overly-forward advances scaring Tina away, and Kellaway arresting him. The Mask toys with the enraged officer (leading them to discover, amongst other miscellaneous objects, a picture of Kellaway's wife in lingerie in his pocket) before zooming out of the park and enchanting a large group of the Edge City police force into joining him in a mass-performance production of the song Cuban Pete. With the cops closing in, 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 troll-figure. Stanley is dumped in Kellaway's lap with a cheap green imitation 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 dragged along on his raid on 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 blow up both the club and Tina. Meanwhile, Milo helps Stanley break out of his cell and they go to the club. After brief initial success with the assistance of Charlie, Stanley is captured. Tina tricks Tyrell into taking off the mask, which gets kicked into the air and caught by Milo. Milo sticks his head into the artifact, and he assists Stanley in beating down Tyrell's men. Stanley retrieves the mask and wears it one last time, swallowing the bomb and literally flushing Tyrell down the drain of the club's ornamental fountain like he is in a toilet. The city's mayor, witnessing most of this, mistakenly deduces that Tyrell was The Mask all along, and forces Kellaway to release Stanley.

As the sun rises, Stanley, Tina, Milo and Charlie take the mask back down to the harbor, where Tina takes the object out of Stanley's hands and tosses it across the shoulder into the water. While Tina and Stanley are very busy with kissing, Charlie jumps into the water to get the mask which swam on the surface, but Milo was quicker.