As perfectly choreographed as the world it depicts.

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2004)

The major factor in this is one of the best screenplays i've ever seen. Its a thing of beauty the way it progresses, shifting gracefully through different levels of reality: first we begin inside the show (with opening credits like "Truman Burbank as Himself, Created by Christoph"), along with interviews with cast members to establish the concept that Truman Burbank is naive to the fact that his entire environment is contrived by a television producer in the ultimate reality television experiment, everything from the weather to the dialogue of the actors who play the people close to Truman. This terrific concept never loses its impact: each time you see it, it takes you on the journey again. Even considering the spate of actual reality TV that has invaded our homes since 1998, which this movie foretold (or perhaps inspired), this movie will always retain its appeal because its specific situation, raising a baby in a reality-TV environment and keeping them from knowing they are on TV and that they are fake (in other words, what reality TV strives for, giving viewers genuine reality to watch, in the person of Truman), is not likely to happen in real life.
Each moment is so beautifully rendered in cinematic language that film buffs the world over should feel like applauding it at every turn during a second viewing in particular. Take the scene where Truman goes to the travel agent to book his trip to Fiji: we see Truman standing in the agency, with bags in hand and beach-holiday clothes, and the most precious musak plays in the background. When he sits, we see a poster on the wall behind him with a plane being struck by lightening and big letters "THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!" So simply, it conveys to us that they are going to try and stop Truman travelling by plane as well.
And the much-praised performance from Carrey really holds the movie together. He's got the tone just right for this movie: which might be perfectly described as "wry." It has a fable-like quality, each moment infused with humour, yet we never lose sight of the eerie reality that this is a human being trapped in this situation.
The full credit for achieving this delicate balance of tone goes to Peter Weir (Australian director of Dead Poets Society, Gallipoli, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness, Mosquito Coast and Master and Commander).
The Truman Show is without a doubt one of the best movies of the 90's. A rare perfect film. 5 stars.
Best bit: the two most famous scenes, the stopping traffic scene and the incredible final scene.