The Mask(1994)
New Line Cinema Jul 29, 1994 | Wide
Bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss is transformed into a manic superhero when he wears a mysterious mask.
Releases
Original Release | Jul 29, 1994
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Box Office Results
Updated as of Mar 27, 2026 06:59 PM ET
Results
$23,117,068
$119,938,730
$231,644,677
$351,583,407
Current Showtimes
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(U.S. Only)
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: DTS
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English,Swedish
Summaries
Plot Summary
- In the New York harbor, a diver is working on laying an underwater pipe. The pipe was being held up by a sea crane, which fails, and the pipe drops to the ocean floor with force. The force disrupts a case at the bottom of the harbor, which opens and releases a wooden mask.Shy and luckless clerk Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) works at an Edge City bank. He is bullied by nearly everyone he is around including his boss Mr. Dickey (Eamonn Roche) and his land-lady Mrs. Peenman (Nancy Fish). His only friends are his Jack Russell Terrier Milo and his co-worker Charlie Schumaker (Richard Jeni). Maggie (Joely Fisher) is a coworker who had asked Stanley for concert tickets. Stanley asks Maggie out on a date when he gives the tickets to her. But Maggie blows him off and decides to go with her friend instead.Charlie says that Stanley needs a change of pace and offers to take him to the hottest new club in town called the Coco Bongo. Stanley had given his car for an oil change, but the mechanics say that it needs a new transmission and other part changes. Stanley says that he needs a car for that night and is provided an old and clunky loaner car.Meanwhile, gangster Dorian Tyrell (Peter Greene) operates a nightclub called the Coco Bongo while plotting to overthrow his boss Niko (Orestes Matacena). Tyrell sends his singer girlfriend Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz) into Stanley's bank to record its layout, in preparation to rob the bank. Tina enters the bank an electric red dress and dazzles everyone. She says she wants to open a new account and lands at Stanley's desk. Stanley is attracted to Tina, and she seems to reciprocate. Tina had a camera in her purse and was recording everything.Stanely is denied entrance of the Coco Bongo (Charlie gets in but doesn't bother to check that Stanley was stopped by the bouncers). He is further embarrassed when he is tossed away by the bouncers and lands in a puddle just when Tina walks up to the club.Stanley's faulty loaner car breaks down during his drive home. While looking over the harbor bridge in despair, he tries rescuing a humanoid figure in the waters but finds it to be a pile of garbage concealing a wooden mask. Stanley returns home where he is admonished by Peenman for running her new carpet with his wet feet and says that it will be recovered from his security deposit.Placing the mask on his face transforms Stanley into a Zoot-suited, green-faced bizarre trickster, known as the Mask, who is able to act with immense impunity. With newfound confidence, Stanley indulges in a comical rampage through the city. The transformed Stanley enacts revenge on some of Stanley's tormentors, including the auto mechanic who ripped him off the night before by giving him a faulty car (he jams a car exhaust up their behinds), and scares a street gang that attempts to rob him by turning a balloon into a Tommy gun.The next morning, Stanley (who wakes up in his bed believing that the previous night was just a nightmare) encounters detective Lieutenant Kellaway (Peter Riegert) and newspaper reporter Peggy Brandt (Amy Yasbeck) investigating the Mask's activity. Meanwhile Niko threatens Tyrell and gives him one week to leave town, when he finds that Tyrell has been using the club to run his small-time scams.To obtain the funds necessary to attend Tina's performance and despite being sought by the police, he again becomes the Mask in order to steal money targeted by Tyrell. Stanley dons the mask and raids the bank, inadvertently foiling Tyrell's robbery. The Mask steals the targeted money while Tyrell's henchman Freeze (Reg E. Cathey) is shot by police responding to the disturbance.At the Coco Bongo, the Mask dances exuberantly with Tina, after which he kisses her after Tyrell is called away by Sweet Eddy (Denis Forest). After Freeze dies in Tyrell's arms, Tyrell violently asks who was responsible. Eddy points to the Mask, who was dancing with Tina.The Mask is then confronted by Tyrell, who pulls out a gun and 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) who is also informed by a policeman that they found Freeze's dead body.Kellaway confronts Stanley at his apartment, just after a weary Stanley discovers all the bank money stuffed in his closet. Kellaway accuses Stanley of the bank-robbery, but he escapes trouble and later consults an expert on masks named Arthur Neumann (Ben Stein), who tells him that the object is a depiction of Loki, the Norse god of darkness and mischief and its powers are only active at night. Neuman believes it is mythology, but he concludes that the Mask's personality is based on Stanley's repressed desires.Despite this, Stanley 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 flees with Peggy, but he is betrayed to Tyrell for a $50,000 bounty. Tyrell tries on the mask and becomes a demonic monster. Forced to reveal the location of the stolen money, Stanley is kept hostage in one of the mob's cars while Tyrell's henchmen reclaim the money from Stanley's apartment. Stanley is later given to Kellaway along with a rubber green mask to be detained.When Tina visits Stanley in his cell, he urges her to flee the city. Tina thanks Stanley for treating her with respect and tells him that she knew that he was the Mask all along. She attempts to leave the city but is captured by Orlando and Tyrell and taken a charity ball hosted by Niko and attended by the city's elite, including the city's mayor Mitchell Tilton (Ivory Ocean). Upon arrival, the masked Tyrell kills Niko and prepares to destroy both the club and Tina. Milo helps Stanley escape prison, and they, bringing Kellaway as a cover and hostage, go to stop Tyrell.After the brief, initial success of securing the assistance of Charlie, Stanley is spotted by Orlando (Nils Allen Stewart) and captured. Tina tricks Tyrell into taking off the mask, which is recovered and donned by Milo, turning the dog into a Cartoon looking Pitbull who defeats Tyrell's men, while Stanley fights Tyrell. Stanley then recovers the mask and uses its abilities to save Tina by swallowing Tyrell's bomb and flushing Tyrell down the drain of the club's ornamental fountain.The police arrive and arrest Tyrell's remaining henchmen while Kellaway arrests Stanley again but is interrupted by Tilton. Telling Kellaway that Tyrell was The Mask the whole time, Tilton vindicates Stanley. Tilton tells Stanley that he is a hero, and thanks him for saving lives. He goes on to say that he needs to have a meeting with Kellaway in his office the next morning.As the sun rises the following day, Stanley, Tina, Milo, and Charlie take the mask back down to the harbor, where Tina throws it into the water. Charlie attempts to retrieve the mask for himself, only to find Milo swimming away with it.
Storyline
- Timid bank clerk, Stanley Ipkiss ( Jim Carrey ). Unfortunately, he's too gentle, and is unable to handle confrontations. After one of the worst days, he finds a mask which depicts Loki, the Norse god of mischief. When he puts it on, he becomes his inner, self: a cartoon wild man. After Ipkiss's alter ego indirectly kills the friend of small time crime boss, Dorian Tyrel ( Peter Greene ),he wants the green-faced goon destroyed. — Ian Pugh <skypilot@ezaccess.net> Bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss ( Jim Carrey ) comes in to possession of a mysterious mask which transforms him into his inner personality. Soon, the bumbling clerk becomes an unconventional super hero in search of justice - and a good time too. — Rob Hartill Stanley Ipkiss ( Jim Carrey ) is a young shy man who works in a bank. One day, he discovers a mask by the sea, which (according to an archaeologist) pictures the Norse god of tricks and deception, Loki. When Stanley puts on the mask, he transforms into an uncontrolled reflection of himself, that does crazy things and amazes the people. This new super-hero, the "Mask", falls in love with a singer, Tina Carlyle ( Cameron Diaz ) while he decides to eliminate every gangster in the city. — Chris Makrozahopoulos <makzax@hotmail.com>
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