Teacher: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? If you are still confused, see the following example:
plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
Solution: N
Reason: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Now, solve this instance: note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
"
all the world 's a stage and all the men and women merely players they have their exits and their entrances and one man
in his time plays many parts "
- excerpt from as you like it , act ii , scene 7 when william shakespeare penned this passage , he could not have possibly envisioned a world in which the domestic activites in an abode would be broadcast across the continent , or where women would install webcams in their apartments in order to convert voyeurism into cash .
this is the world of today , and it is the perfect climate to unveil a prototypical high - concept project like the truman show .
truman burbank ( jim carrey ) seems to have the perfect life .
he has a pretty , doting wife meryl ( laura linney ) , a comfortable insurance sales position , an immaculate suburban home in the idyllic island community of seahaven , a reliable childhood buddy marlon ( noah emmerich ) -- except for the dog that paws a greeting to him every morning and his hydrophobia , this is paradise .
or so it would seem .
bizarre , inexplicable incidents begin to crop up in truman 's life .
a lighting fixture unexpectedly plummets from the sky .
a rainstorm which gives new meaning to the term ' isolated ' follows him around .
a radio broadcast appears to be describing his every move .
for the first time in his life , it is beginning to dawn on truman that things are not what they appear to be .
the truman show , directed by peter weir and written by andrew niccol , is a remarkably well - constructed film , paced perfectly with every scene fluidly leading into the next .
balancing drama with humour , thoughtfulness with abandon , this is a film which addresses an intriguing and intricate concept with just the right mixture of sermonizing and whimsical fancy .
in many ways , mr .
niccol 's screenplay mirrors the spirit of his previous gattaca
-- both films focus on the theme of triumph of the human spirit over oppressive adversity , with pivotal , character - defining moments occurring at sea .
although the film 's rather conventional climax does n't sustain the inspired dynamic achieved in the first two - thirds , and ultimately just falls short on delivering the intended emotional punch , there are moments through the truman show which are genuinely stirring and moving as truman attempts to make sense of his unraveling world and grasp the implications behind his discoveries of deception .
despite the multitude of pertinent issues being broached by the film , it remains foremost a finely - crafted piece of entertainment , constantly light and accessible .
the tone achieved is far too sunny for any sense of fearful paranoia to legitimately intrude , and as the carefully - stacked seahaven house of cards tumbles down , the film eschews any psychological ramifications for a man discovering that the fundamentals of his entire existence have been false .
the end act of the truman show essentially boils down to a rehash of the reliable , crowdpleasing underdog vs .
the system formula .
while the film is an impressive realisation of an inspired concept , some elements are lacking .
the device of mysterious lauren / sylvia ( natascha mcelhone ) as a contributing impetus to truman 's growing awareness is n't exactly convincing .
there 's not much of a discernable spark between either the two characters or the actors themselves , and the scenes in which she indignantly confronts the megalomaniac christoff ( ed harris ) with regards to the moral ambiguity of his actions unnecessarily spells things out for the audience , thankfully avoided elsewhere in the film .
in fact , although the film smartly restricts the number of scenes depicting the real world outside truman 's artificial utopia to a mere handful of select reaction shots from enraptured gazers , it might have perhaps been even more indicting and damning to immerse itself even * more * deeply in the insulatory seahaven world , with the resultant effect that the repercussions felt as the film finally shifts outside the imposed bubble are all the more startling .
still , the scathing commentary issued by this film is on target , and its insidiously oblique manner of delivery is far more effective in conveying the message than the more forthright anti - voyeuristic tirades such as that of the recent costa gavras film mad city .
i 've always believed that the versatile ms .
linney possesses a tremendous comic gift -- she has always seems to have a impish gleam in her eyes -- and in the truman show she runs rampant with her duplicitous character , mischievously flashing a glazed , insanely jovial grin as she perkily recites impromptu product placement slogans .
cheerfully going over the top , it 's hilarious to watch her -- who would have ever guessed that she 'd have the opportunity to outshine the reigning king of comedy in the laughs department of a film ?
ms .
linney is a delight in the film .
but it is mr .
carrey who rules the show here
.
he may not have been intuitively the most obvious choice to portray underdog hero truman burbank -- the role is seriously lacking in any of the frenetic comic interludes which typify his traditional parts -- but he brings to the character tremendous energy and eminent appeal :
it 's difficult not to root for truman .
in a commanding performance , mr .
carrey lends our protagonist an inherent sense of decency and integrity which makes him a genuinely engaging presence , and acquits himself impressively in this dramatic turn , demonstrating admirable restraint -- there 's an early scene where he 's down on his knees gardening , and given his past track record , one almost instinctively anticipates mr .
carrey to pull one of more infamous , and in this case , wholly inappropriate sight gags .
it 's almost poetic how this notorious look - at - me actor successfully tones it down to play a character who 's constantly the centre of attention .
in addition to the fine performances by the bulk of the cast -- mr .
emmerich is particularly noteworthy for issuing his character a sense of sturdy trustworthiness -- the film is immeasurably aided by wonderful production design by dennis gassner in creating truman 's antiseptic , white picket - fenced smalltown utopia , and by burkhard dallwitz 's original score .
technical credits are first - rate all around .
while the truman show is clearly a definitive high - concept film , it 's not exactly a dazzlingly innovative one -- obvious predecessors utilising common elements abound , ranging from 1965 's secret agent through to the groundbreaking british 1967 tv series the prisoner .
all the same , this is a visionary , award - calibre film : entertaining , provocative , and intelligent .
the curious ( and possibly disturbing ) thing may be that although upon first glance the plausibility of the film 's concept seems unfathomably outrageous , it 's abundantly clear that our society is rapidly approaching , if not actualisation ,
at least permissiveness of such a scenario .
perhaps the highest compliment which can be paid to mr .
weir is that his depiction of this bizarro state is so convincing that we accept it without question .
perhaps we recognize a bit of ourselves in this world .
Student:
P