Jim Carrey meets Big Brother!

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2006)

The Truman Show is about a man named Truman (Jim Carrey). Truman is living a normal life. He has a job, a wife and a dedicated best friend. What he doesn't know is that his whole life is a T.V. show. The world around him is a T.V. set and the people he interacts with including his wife, parents and best friend are actors. From the time he was born Truman's life has been filmed 24/7 by a complicated network of thousands of tiny cameras and broadcast unedited and uncensored to the public. Truman of course suspects nothing because as the creator of the show Cristof (Ed Harris) said, "We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented". Now that would apply to Truman if it were not for one thing. In high school a woman that he fell in love with (Natascha McElhone) told him what was really going on. At the time he didn't understand and, as a result remained more focused on the fact that the people escorting her away told him she was moving to the Fiji Islands. Truman has ever since been obsessed with going there and when his progress is continually inhibited he begins to suspect that something is going on.
The Truman Show is a very fascinating movie. It is a combination of the book 1984 and those Star Trek episodes where Commander Ryker was in a holo-deck without knowing it. The cast lying through their teeth to through Truman off reminded me of those intense, intriguing stories. It is also a very strange movie. During the first ten-twenty minutes of the movie I wondered if it was going to be any good. Stay with it and fear not. Let me assure you that this is a very good movie. Once you get past the beginning then you should be fine.
In terms of acting I think the cast pulled it off fairly well. Jim Carrey was excellent overall but there were several instances, and even the better part of the beginning where I felt they cast the wrong person. Don't get me wrong, Carrey was the perfect man for the job, it's just that he could have done a little better in a few select parts. This is a movie where you will have to suspend you disbelief a little. The basic plot pretty implausible with all the human rights groups and peoples T.V. viewing habits. But that is why it is classified as Science Fiction.
But in terms of the way Peter Weir pulled of the story and Jim Carrey pulled off his character so close to perfection the movie seems very plausible. I highly recommend this movie.
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