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Son Of The Mask bears zero resemblance to Jim Carrey comedy The Mask. For one thing, comedian Jamie Kennedy is about as funny as the hours of labour pain that must have gone into making this runt of a movie. Dispensing with frivolous matters like a coherent story and compelling characters, Lawrence Guterman directs a series of horrifically unfunny, cartoonish stunts performed by a baby touched with Norse magic and bad CG airbrushing. Be afraid: it's Â鶹ԼÅÄ Alone meets The Exorcist.

After a tedious opening sequence introducing Tim (Jamie Kennedy) as a struggling cartoonist longing for that big break, even screenwriter Lance Khazei loses interest and has him fired to concentrate on the meat and bones of the story. It's mostly just bones though with Tim on babysitting duty for newborn son Alvey (Ryan Falconer) who performs demonic feats like projectile urination. Meanwhile Alan Cumming camps it up as Norse god of mischief, Loki, itching to get his mitts on the baby whose powers have been bestowed by an ancient mask.

"LAZILY CONCEIVED AND POORLY EXECUTED"

Between tantrums there's a tangle of silly subplots; Alvey's secret plan to have his dad sectioned conflicts with a set-up involving the family dog who competes with him for Tim's affections. It all makes about as much sense as baby babble. On top of that, the gags are lazily conceived and poorly executed. With all the crash-zoom close-ups and bang-wallop effects, watching this is like being bludgeoned by an Acme sledgehammer for 90 minutes. Son Of The Mask should put a bag over its head and never be seen again.