|
 eter Weir's "The Truman Show" was the first
movie that former rubberface comedian Jim Carrey served notice to the world that
he was more than his talking posterior. Besides satirizing the then-fledging
concept of reality TV taken to its most ludicrous degree, "The Truman
Show" combines comedy with human drama and a healthy dose of paranoia. The
result is a sometimes funny, oftentimes poignant, and always clever film.
Jim Carrey ("The
Majestic") stars as Truman Burbank, a young man who is adopted at birth
by a TV network to unknowingly star in his own reality TV show called, of
course, "The Truman Show." The TV network, under the manipulation of
master programmer Christof (Ed Harris), has fashioned a completely fake
"world" for Truman, including an island town surrounded by water that
exists only within a giant dome building. Christof and his army of TV
programmers control the rise and fall of the sun, the weather, and even the ebb
and flow of the ocean. When an adult Truman begins to suspect that something is
wrong with his "perfect life," that's when things start to get
complicated...
The screenplay to "The Truman Show", written by
Andrew Niccol ("Gattaca"), is truly inspiring in its creativity. Not
only is every aspect of Truman's life monitored via multiple cameras (some as
small as a class ring) for the entertainment of the masses ("The Truman
Show" is the number one rated TV show of all time), but also Truman's life
is manipulated to ensure he will never leave the fake island town. Besides
giving Truman a phobia of water, the programmers use actors (everyone in the
town, except for Truman, are actors) to drill it into Truman's head that the
world outside his idyllic small town is evil and dangerous, and that stepping
out into it is akin to suicide.
Because the network literally owns Truman, even his mother
and father are actors. His best friend Marlon's biggest job is to keep a close
eye on him; his wife Meryl (Laura Linney) is the most dedicated actor of all
because she has to sleep with him! Once Truman begins to suspect that things are
not as they appear to be, he struggles to find the answers, and Christof and his
programmers struggle to keep one step ahead of him, even going so far as to
bring back Truman's supposedly "dead" father!
"The Truman Show" is astounding, due largely to
its continually clever screenplay and the direction by Peter Weir, who makes the
film breezy and efficient. There are no extra pounds here, just a film that
moves extremely well.
Jim Carrey does a tremendous job as the confused Truman, a
man who has to summon strength from a part of him he didn't even know existed.
Natascha McElhone ("Ronin") appears as a former cast member who broke
the rules and tried to tell Truman about his "life", and was fired as
a result. Truman's obsession with Natascha's Lauren, who he has fallen in love
with as a young man, provides the movie's most tender moments, especially since
Lauren can see everything Truman does via the TV.
It can also be said that "The Truman Show" was
ahead of its time, considering the glut of reality TV programs currently on the
air at this moment. Back in 1998, the notion of a child bought by a TV network
to star in a TV show may have seemed impossible, but nowadays I'm not so sure...
|
