CINEMA: World's Only Living Toon

He is the movies' new $7 million man, the year's surprise star, but Jim Carrey still approaches an interview as if he were auditioning for the roles of all three Stooges and a couple of minor Marx Brothers (Zippo and Gonzo?). On a high balcony of Los Angeles' Ma Maison hotel, the star exhausts successive teams of reporters and photographers with his giddy verve. He not only entertains them, he outmans them, peopling the place with dozens of nutsy, improvised characters.

"O.K.," the current photographer suggests, "now just be yourself. Show me who you are."

Carrey pauses, scans the floor, shrugs...