A uniquely genuine masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 1999)

Jim Carrey proves to the world that he can do a whole lot more than talk out of his ass, with this brilliantly astonishing performance. He plays Truman Burbank, a normal white collar suburbanite who works in real estate and leads a simple normal life. However, his life is anything but normal. From the moment of his birth, his entire life has been shown on television live and unedited to an audience around the world, the island he lives on is a gigantic sound stage, with close to 5000 cameras, and with the great wall of China is one of two man made structures still visible from space, his wife, best friend, the people he works with, and the people he sees everyday are all just actors. The most amazing thing about this innovative premise is the fact that Truman is completely unaware of all of this. The premise of this film is how he finds out about the reality of his life, and how to escape this prison.
The Truman Show is Peter Weir's finest film ever, and the always excellent Ed Harris who plays The Truman Show director, Christof gives his best performance since Glengarry Glen Ross. Jim Carrey gave the best performance that I have seen in 1998, and Laura Linney provided some comic relief as an over acting actress playing Truman's wife. As the #2 film of 1998 (next to Saving Private Ryan), and one of the 10 greatest films of the 1990's, The Truman Show ranks as one of my top 30 favorite films of all time. This is a film that truly deserves a 5 star rating. Comedy, drama, romance, and even suspense, this film as something for everyone, and is one of those rare films that has something for everyone, it even has an important moral message behind it. The fact that life is too sacred and precious to be entertainment for someone else.
This is one of the most uniquely original motion pictures that I have seen in a long time. Absolutely not to be missed by anyone.