The Truman Show

In a sentence, this is the best movie I've seen this year. And I'm having a quandry over whether to explain the plot or tell you nothing about it. You see, I just talked to a coworker who was disappointed with The Truman Show because he went to see it expecting a "Jim Carrey Movie." Let me state, right here and now, this is NOT a Jim Carrey Movie. It's a Peter Weir Movie. And I'll explain exactly what that is later. Anyone who doesn't know what this movie is about and is expecting something Ace/Mask/Dumb & Dumber-ish should read the next paragraph. Everyone else can skip it if they like.

Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a small town everyman who has the lovely wife and a nice living as an insurance agent in a surreal slice of Americana called Seaside. Truman has lived here his whole life. He's never thought to take a second look at the world that surrounds him. He never realized that his whole existence is a fraud: He lives on an elaborate sound stage, and everyone in his life, including his wife (Laura Linney), and best friend (Noah Emmerich), are actors. His neighbors? Extras, paid to hit a mark and say their line and plug whatever product paid for advertising this week. And the entire world has been watching him since the day he was born on a 24 hour a day TV station. Unfortunately for Truman show producer Christof (Ed Harris, who will get an Oscar nomination for this), some techincal glitches make Truman suspicious, and that's when it gets interesting.

The Truman Show is directed by Peter Weir, an Australian who doesn't make a lot of movies but the ones he makes are artistic statements (Dead Poets Society), and some are damn near religious experiences (Fearless). I think he was the perfect choice to take on Andrew Niccol's screenplay (Niccol also wrote and directed Gattaca), because he's separated enough from the American way to satirize it without being heavy handed or condescending. He's also a master at getting extraordinary performances out of people you wouldn't expect it from. He helped the world finally take Robin Williams seriously in Dead Poets, and hell, even Rosie Perez got a Supporting Actress nomination for her part in Fearless. Jeff Bridges, however, was robbed by not getting a Best Actor nod for the same movie, but I digress. There was some stiff competition that year (Some guys named Leeson, Day Lewis, Hopkins and Hanks were nominated instead).

And this time, the lucky recipient of Weir's skills is Jim Carrey, who always had the talent but never had the script with which to prove it. He may also get an Oscar nomination for his performance here, if for nothing else, by underplaying the part. There are moments of his loose limbed Liar Liar self, but as a whole here's an actor who wants you to look at him differently than you have before. If Carrey were George Michael, he would have called this movie Watch Without Prejudice, Volume I. And watch you should, because from the moment he starts figuring his situation out, I found this movie riveting.

Some critics have complained about the part of his wife Meryl, saying that she was underdeveloped and simply not as strong as the rest of the cast. While that may be true, I thought her performance was dead on because Meryl simply wasn't as good an actor as Emmerich's best friend or Truman's mother, and when that is exposed, it makes the whole setup look even more ridiculous than it already is. Besides, Truman never loved her anyway. His true love was taken off the show early on.

Harris' Christof is a perfect walking contradiction because he pretends what he's doing is showing Truman's life to the world under the guise that Truman has free will, when in fact Christof controls every single aspect of Truman's life. Sure, everything around him may be a fraud, but Truman himself is completely real and uncontaminated. He's (Here's Niccol's long running pun) a True Man. That's why millions of people tune in to watch him every week.

Since seeing this movie, I haven't looked at anything the same way again. Any time I mention something by brand name, every sign and billboard that hangs in Chicago, makes wonder if we're all really living in our own version of Seaside. That's the fun of The Truman Show. Everyone's life is a movie, everyone around you is an actor, designed to play a part as either a long running cast member or maybe a one or two episode supporting bit. I've said that this movie will be 1998's Forrest Gump, that it will tap into something that draws repeat business and warm fuzzies for its viewers. The Truman Show is on a completely different plane than Gump, but there is a heart to it that is most unexpected from a plot so inherently insincere. I only hope that people know what to expect before they go see it, and enjoy the ride as much as I did. Expected box office take; $280 million. Nothing touches this one this summer.