Ah...The Mask, a fun little Jim Carrey romp. One of his works from earlier on in his film career. Built on Slapstick comedy, and while nevertheless sometimes possessing Bad Tropes is considered one of his best work by critics. It turned out to be very popular. It is based, (Film Of The Book style), on the Comic Book of the same name. Sort of... The original is not harmless slapstick.

The story follows twenty-something banker Stanley Ipkiss as he finds the Mask of Loki, an Artifact Of Doom created by the Norse God Loki and imbued with a portion of his Trickster powers. In Stanley's case, this manifests as gaining the Reality Warper abilities of the classic Looney Tunes style of comic mayhem from the cartoons of which he is an aficionado (stretching, shapeshifting, bouncing back from Amusing Injuries, and the like). While not quite reaching With Great Power Comes Great Insanity levels, he does use it to get back on the people that bullied the shy reserved nice guy Stanley, as the Mask. When other people get hold of it, the results are not so amusing.

Following the success of this film was an Animated Adaptation followed in 1995, it lasted until 1997.

Examples:

Adaptation Distillation: Although not loyal to the comics, all adaptions since have at least used some inspiration from this film.
Adaptation Decay: Depending on who you ask. Your Milage May Vary
Beyond The Impossible: What the titular mask is apparently able to do.
Crowd Song: The aforementioned Cuban Pete song.
Fun Personified: The normally shy Stanley turns into this with the Mask (mostly).
George Lucas Love Story: Same as above.
Hyperspace Arsenal: Stanley, as the Mask, pulls out a double handful of guns to scare off some punks. Immediately subverted, as they turn out to be "Bang"-flag toy guns.
In Name Only: This bears very little resemblance to the Comic Book it was based on, with this featuring more slapstick then what many consider Gorn.
The Jimmy Hart Version: Jim Carrey's cover of Cuban Pete used in the film.
Lampshade Hanging: The Animated Adaptation featured much lampshade hanging on traditional superhero tropes.
New Powers As The Plot Demands: Used constantly for comedic effect. The Rule Of Fun greatly applies here.
Sequelitis: Son Of The Mask. It won a Razzy.
Shallow Female Love Interest: Cameron Diaz's character of Tina fits this to a t.
Time Bomb: Disposed of in a rather...unique fashion.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Mask himself, along with other objects (turning a balloon-tommygun into a real one, for example).
Non Human Sidekick: Milo the dog, who at first misunderstands the command to "Get the keys", picking up the cheese from the guard's sandwich before bringing the keys Stanley uses to escape from the jail cell.
What Do You Mean Its Not For Kids: The original comic book.

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