Truman Show
Before Jim Carrey in recent months wound up committing what can best be construed as career suicide, itās easy to forget that (in the 90s at least) he had one heck of a career going, mostly in comedies, with one classic after another. This release in 1998 saw him make a stab at more dramatic territory, albeit with a surrealistic touch, and wound up being a tremendous success as well as the single best performance of his career. Even today, the premise comes off as quite audacious, but was done in such a way that the idea managed to be realized through by director Peter Weir to its absolute fullest extent. Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a guy living a mundane life in an absolutely peaceful, beautiful, small oceanfront town. What he doesnāt realize however, is that the entire town is actually underneath a gigantic dome equipped with thousands of hidden cameras, that his wife and best friend are actors being told what to say and how to act towards him, and that everyone else in the town is either an actor or an extra who are fully aware of who Truman is and what their purpose is regarding him. As it turns out, Truman is the unknowing star of a 24 hour reality show broadcast all over the world and essentially the most famous man on Earth, whom it would seem brings hope and inspiration to millions everywhere. Thatās probably because they lucked out on the fact that Truman is such an upbeat, likable guy to begin with, but still he retains a pressing need to escape from his reality that heās known throughout his whole life and see the world and everything in it, inspired by a chance encounter he had when he was younger with an extra (Natasha McElhone) that he shared a forbidden kiss with and who tried to tell him the truth about his existence before being whisked away and thrown off the show, only to become an activist fighting for Truman to have his freedom from the prison that he occupies. As more and more unusual events transpire around him and Truman becomes more self-aware of the truth, so does Carrey bring out the pathos in his performance to brilliant effect, as we too root for him to finally get out. Standing in the way are the wife and best friend, actually two corporate puppet actors who donāt literally CARE about Truman in any way, shape, or form, but come off as always trying to make him think so: Noah Emmerich as the fake weasel best friend manages the mean feat of being both sincere and disingenuous at the same time, always knowing that if he brings Truman out for a couple of beers he can talk him down from any grandiose plans he might have, and Laura Linney as his wife (portrayed as a nurse who rides a bicycle to work) is in many ways a beautiful monstrosity, better than anyone at pasting on a fake smile and giving false encouragement to her TV husband, though the fact that being Trumanās wife on this show also means that essentially sheās being paid to have sexual relations with him (in front of the world) makes one realize what a twisted and manipulative woman she really must be, even while she makes sure to always find time to plug various products for the sponsors. Soon Trumanās ever more erratic behavior compels his wife to leave him (i.e. quit the show) and be replaced by an even more hotter love interest, but still that doesnāt stop his ambition to leave, much to the chagrin of the showās creator and director, Christof, played by Ed Harris. As far as Harris goes, it must be said that even with a lot less screen time, he creates an equally compelling character, in many ways the God of Trumanās world, whom it turns out never leaves his control room headquarters, always watching his star, because it is he who has come to believe in the notion that the outside world is such a cold, cruel, manipulative place that both he and Truman are safer right where they are in their manufactured paradise. A fascinating performance, and one where equal cases can be made as to whether heās good or evil, as really thatās where the genius of the whole movie rears its head, asking several probing, relevant questions not the least of which is the dangers of being a āreality starā, along with the notions of turning oneās back on the world itself for being such a shitty place to create your own reality or the imposing of restrictions on someoneās personal freedoms āfor their own protectionā. A lot to chew on here, but the sheer emotion of Carreyās acting (especially in the final scenes) and the wonderfully and fully realized execution of the final product makes this a classic for the ages, a treatise on the ethics of modern media that everyone can learn fromā¦
10/10