One of the Best Films of the '90s

Rating: 10/10 (17 March 2003)

Screenwriter Andrew Niccol followed up his inspired but slightly uneven debut (Gattaca) with this brilliant, Peter Weir directed film. Those looking for Dumb and Dumber should look elsewhere. I can still remember the inappropriate laughter from those in the theatre during a very profound scene in which Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) actually touches the limits of his known world for the first time. Those who were looking for Ace Ventura were just dying to laugh at something - those who weren't saw the scene for the philosophical statement it really was.
This is an intelligent, innovative take on what is actually a fairly standard SF convention - the idea of an enclosed universe, combined with the discovery by an inhabitant of that universe that "reality" is not what it seems.
Many thought Jim Carrey got snubbed for a best actor nomination (most prominently Carrey himself), but the real injustice here was that the film was not even nominated for best picture. Niccol was nominated for best screenplay, and deserved to win as well.
This is speculative fiction of a kind that Hollywood rarely produces. Gattaca is also highly recommended and, despite Niccol's misstep with "Simone," he's still a talent to be watched.