Our fearless – and quite possibly senseless – movie janitor is watching every movie on the IMDb Bottom 100 list. Join us now for another installment of Unwatchable.
(Last week, with the help of a reader’s thoughtful intervention, I decided it would be a good idea to take a little breather from the Unwatchable project. In retrospect, I was hitting the IMDb Bottom 100 a little too hard for a few weeks there, and it’s clear I was feeling a bit burned out. Fortunately for you and (especially) for me, however, number 40 on the list is a movie I’ve already seen. Not only that, I already reviewed it when it came out. Since that review is no longer available online, I present it to you here with minor alterations.)
If he keeps working hard and honing his craft, Jamie Kennedy may one day achieve his goal of becoming a second-rate Jim Carrey. On the evidence of Son of the Mask, that day has not yet arrived. Having learned no lessons from its dismal flop Dumb and Dumberer, the last sequel to a Carrey comedy to go forth without its original star, New Line Cinema has churned out another belated follow-up.
The 1994 movie that introduced the Mask and helped launch Carrey to stardom was based on a Dark Horse comic book series influenced by legendary Looney Toons animator Tex Avery. Computer generated effects were in their infancy at the time, so the live-action cartoon approach of The Mask had some novelty value. Ten years later, the CGI thrill is long gone, but apparently director Lawrence Guterma (Cats and Dogs) didn’t get the memo.
At least Kennedy isn’t playing the same character as Carrey; in a nod to The Mask’s origins, he’s a wannabe animator named Tim Avery. While his wife Tonya (Traylor Howard) is eager to get their family started, the reluctant Tim still harbors hopes of launching his own show at the cartoon studio where he serves as in-house mascot. Meanwhile, the Norse god of mischief Loki (Alan Cumming) has raised the ire his dad Odin (Bob Hoskins) by losing the titular mask. Thanks to the Avery family pooch, the mask falls into Tim’s hands just in time for the company Halloween party. When he puts it on his face, he morphs into a green-faced whirling dervish with unearthly transformative powers, but lacks the manic, leering menace Carrey brought to the table. He’s like the children’s party version of The Mask. Tim apparently wears the mask to bed that night, and nine months later a son is born. Having inherited the mask’s powers, little Alvey sets about making life a living hell for daddy. Father and son bond, however, when Loki arrives on the scene, determined to reclaim the mask.
Guterman and screenwriter Lance Kazhei have concocted some busy Rube Goldberg sequences in hopes of recapturing the anarchic spirit of Avery’s Looney Toons, but their execution is hit-and-miss. Too often the results are more frantic and noisy than inspired. Cumming has his moments, but like everyone else in the movie, he’s overwhelmed by the digital clutter. None of the technological advancements of the past decade can make the tired slapstick and gross-out gags any funnier.
(I originally gave Son of the Mask a grade of C-, which was the system I was using at the time this review was published. I’m certainly not going to revisit the movie now, so let’s say that translates as three Maurys.)
Previously on Unwatchable:
41. Troll 2
42. Zombie Nightmare
43. American Ninja V
44. Leonard Part 6
45. Another 9½ Weeks