One of my favorites.

Rating: 8/10 (1 October 2000)

Jim Carrey portrays Truman Burbank, a man raised from birth by a corporation to star in a televised life in a town that's merely a facade, surrounded by family and friends who really only regard him as a coworker. It's certainly not the comedy I was expecting, though it stars Jim Carrey and does contain some comedic moments. Upon viewing, I found it to be intensely dramatic, and quite moving when all was said and done. The film can speak on a very literal level, aptly skewering our society's obsession with voyeurism and the media's rapacious appetite for conent, or on a spiritual level, with the gigantic set upon which Truman's "life" takes place becoming an allegorical Eden. While it makes some remarks about what could be considered rather dark characteristics of the modern media's role in society, the film itself is far from dark, and in fact contains a very uplifting message in the end. Jim Carrey turns in an excellent dramatic performance as his character slowly comes to realize that the things happening in his life are sometimes quite odd and surreal. Ed Harris is good as well as the producer who watches the events in the manufactured town from on high (another obvious spiritual metaphor). All of the main characters, in fact, do a very good job of switching between Truman's acquaintances and actors simply moving on and off of a set, turning off and on their apparent feelings for the main character. My favorite scenes were the ones in which Truman appears at his most human, doing something outside of the producer's tightly scripted goings on around the small town. Even if you ignore all of the messages and just take the film as a simple narrative of the events in a man's life, it is paced and filmed well enough that it will probably entertain most people. And while I've read a few reviews that speak poorly of the ending, I thought it was perfect considering the central theme of the movie. I highly recommend it.