The Worst Movie Of All Time Was Released 20 Years Ago

In 1994, Jim Carrey turned in a powerhouse performance as Stanley Ipkiss in The Mask.

Loosely based on the Dark Horse Comics series, the film sees the meek and mild Stanley discover a magical wooden mask. When he puts it on, he transforms him into a confident, green-faced troublemaker who possesses toon force and happy feet for a rumba beat. The super-charged comedy electrified the audience – and the global box office too, making over $350 million from a $23 million budget.

With that type of profit, fanfare, and franchise possibility, the expectation always was that a sequel would go into production. That it did, but only in 2005. However, Carrey didn’t return for this follow-up, as Jamie Kennedy took lead in Son of the Mask. Well, whatever magic was found in the original was flushed down the toilet, as this sequel established itself as arguably the worst movie of all time.

Why didn’t Jim Carrey return for ‘The Mask’ sequel?

In his early career, Jim Carrey didn’t like doing sequels. “Most of the time when you make something that really hits with people, the sequels have a diminishing return,” he told ComicBook.com in 2022. That said, Carrey initially agreed to return for The Mask 2, with the production company even running a competition in a magazine for a fan to win a minor role in the movie circa 1995. Plans grinded to a halt, though, when Carrey said, “No thanks,” and moved on to another project.

For the next decade, The Mask franchise swam around in Hollywood limbo until Lance Khazei penned a script for a sequel that was greenlit by the studio. From there, the ball started rolling and Cats & Dogs director Lawrence Guterman boarded the project. No one disputed the fact that this would be a new story – sans Stanley Ipkiss – but hey, it was a Mask sequel after a decade, so how bad could it be? Very. Very, very bad.

What’s wrong with ‘Son of the Mask’?

First of all, Son of the Mask feels more like a premise for a cartoon episode rather than a live-action film. In this story, Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) discovers the infamous wooden mask. He puts it on and gains all its slapstick power and charisma, using it to seduce his wife, Tonya (Traylor Howard), while wearing it one evening. From that encounter, a baby named Alvey is born – but with the mischievous powers of the Mask in his blood. Alvey drives everyone up the wall, especially Tim. At the same time, Odin (Bob Hoskins) sends his son Loki (Alan Cumming) to retrieve the mask, believing it isn’t good for humanity. And yeah, that’s why this abomination exists. It’s as if Troma decided to moosh together parts of Look Who’s Talking and Thor into a film, and cast Tommy Wiseau as the lead.

Speaking of which, Kennedy doesn’t just struggle to carry Son of the Mask; he crumbles under the pressure on screen. He’s no Jim Carrey, and his brand of humor is niche to put it bluntly, so this was always going to be a hard sell. In fact, this film all but killed any chances of him becoming an A-lister in the future, because no big studio wanted to go near him after this stinker. According to Kennedy’s YouTube channel, Ryan Reynolds initially wanted in on Son of the Mask as the lead, but he turned it down to do Blade: Trinity instead. To be fair, though, it’s unlikely that anyone could have saved this mess from total disaster.

Then, there’s the topic of Alvey as a central character. Who in their right mind wants to watch a CGI baby wreak havoc for an entire movie? Yeah, it’s fun for a skit or minor sequence, but to build an entire movie around it? Even for a cartoon, this idea would get stale beyond a singular episode. Yet, the filmmakers stretch it out for 94 painful minutes.

How the film destroyed the franchise

Expectedly, no one liked Son of the Mask. It made $59 million from its $84 million budget, and that was already $59 million too much. The film received a rightful mauling from critics and fans, holding a 6% reviewer approval and 16% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing. To this day, it’s often cited as the way to not make a sequel, and the mere mention of Son of the Mask is enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone who had the misfortune of having this burn their eyes and memory banks. Heck, even the people involved in the making of it have since admitted this film just didn’t work.

What it also did was kill any hope of further movies in the franchise. In 2014, the comic book’s creator, Mike Richardson, said there were various plans for a reboot, but nothing ever materialized. It’s unsurprising since Son of the Mask turned The Mask into a toxic property that no one wanted to touch with a 10-foot pole.
There is one saving grace, though. The one shining ray of hope that could turn everything around and help people to forget about Son of the Mask‘s existence: The return of the original cast to do a real sequel. Jim Carrey is game, telling ComicBook.com he’d do it “if somebody had the right idea.” Cameron Diaz, who plays Tina Carlyle in the original movie, told Access Hollywood that she’s also on board, as long as Carrey returns. So, tell us, Hollywood, why is no one making things right with the audience and doing a smokin’ redo of The Mask yet?