Metacritic reviews

Carrey's a human cartoon, and his spontaneous, Avery-esque, anything-for-a-laugh outrageousness makes this otherwise blank Mask a must-see.

The result is a movie character who seems half real, half animated.

This gifted clown has found the right vehicle for his souped-up silliness. Carrey is the ultimate party dude, and like the masked man says, this party is smokin'.

Carrey's jolly green mug carries Mask. [29 July 1994, p. D1]

As a comedy, The Mask is genial, but its recycled plot is far too thin for the film to succeed as either an adventure or a spoof.

The results are easy to watch, though awfully familiar and simpleminded.

The funniest moment comes when Carrey mimes the effects of the Mask without special effects.

The Mask, a rattletrap Jekyll-and-Hyde farce, surrounds Carrey with a nothing plot and a cast of ciphers. Still, his scenes as the Mask are rowdy and enjoyable.

Carrey has yet to find the perfect vehicle for himself, but The Mask, while hardly as fantastic as it should have been, is a step in the right direction.

An astonishingly lazy and perfunctory effort that does little to realize his (Carrey) comic potential.