An unattractive idea, given an unfocused treatment

Rating: 2/10 (29 June 2001)

Rarely have I seen a major motion picture that looked as awful as this one does. We get the fact that modern suburbia is supposed to look like a plastic paradise out of a TV commercial, but the colors here are tepid, the camera set-ups dull and unimaginative, and the direction mechanical and without a hint of inspiration. Jim Carrey, playing Truman (whose life is a TV show though he doesn't know it), shows off his dreaded "range" as a performer; he's always on-camera a second too soon and stays there seconds too long. This is also the fault of the director (Peter Weir?!) and the editor, who hope we in the audience don't miss any of their tricks. How could we when the whole set-up of this story is as plastic as the town's inhabitants, or when every gesture is as subtle as a pack of stampeding elephants? *1/2 from ****