It defies explanation, yet it wins you over.

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 1999)

It gives me great pleasure to see people try to explain Peter Weir's "The Truman Show." Even here at IMDB, the genre is listed as Fantasy/Drama/Comedy/Sci-Fi. And yet, is it really any of these? Anyone who's seen it will probably agree with me that it is sort of all of these, but not really any.
Let me begin by saying that Truman Burbank is my hero. I can't tell you why, exactly, except that I don't think I'd ever have the courage to do what he did. If you don't know what he did, see the movie. Truman is brilliantly played by the often un-brilliant Jim Carrey. He's a nice guy. We like him. We like his wife (Laura Linney). We like his best friend, Marlon (Noah Emmerich). In fact, we even sort of like Christof (Ed Harris), the media mastermind who created Truman's world and saw it fall apart. Think of Dr. Frankenstein's famous line: "I've created a monster!"
Every involved in this film should be saluted. Andrew Niccol's script is flawless, Peter Weir's minimalist direction gives even more energy and charisma to the production, etc, etc, etc. I could go on forever, but I won't. Suffice it to say that Truman's journey and discovery is one of the most moving and profound I've ever found in film. Who knew Hollywood could still make brilliant movies?
**** out of ****.