Rating: 
Summary: Nice thought, but no originality
Review: Didn't anyone notice how derivative this movie is? The whole plot screams of Marin Guerre. And the scene in front of the HUAC was lifted straight from The Front (Woody Allen was a little more colorful). They even had the guy who went to a communist party meeting strictly to score with a girl. (It was Zero Mostel in the original movie.) As for the ending... c'mon everybody sing! "Now the whole damn bus is cheering, and I can't believe I see... a hundred yellow ribbons round the old... oak... tree!"
Rating: 
Summary: Original plot
Review: I liked this movie because it was such a unique idea (at least to me). Who would've thought of making a movie about a film writer in the 1950s who was accused of being a communist and who drives off one night and accidentally goes off a bridge, hits his head and wakes up on a beach with amnesia in a town where he happens to look exactly like a guy who's been missing in action for 9 and 1/2 years and who everyone is so happy to see, huh? The conflict being - will he ever remember who he is, and if so, will the government find him, and what will the whole town that he's fallen in love with think? It's such an interesting story. Kind of slow paced - but REALLY good if you like those sorts of movies that have a feel good ending with a hero who "finds himself" and leaves a special mark in the lives of some really kind people and ends up being the winner he never knew he truly was. I only gave it four stars because I wish the DVD had more special features like how they made the movie, but I loved the movie itself. Watch it! The acting is SUPERB.
Rating:
Summary: Only Jim Carrey film I like
Review: I have never liked Jim Carrey's silly "Jerry Lewis"-like slap stick silly comdey.... BUT... in this more serious movie, I finally saw a Jim Carrey who can actually do a good job acting.
The only Jim Carrey film I like.
Nice period piece.
Rating: 
Summary: A dud...
Review: Jim Carrey attempts once again to prove to people he can act after the success of his previous starring role in The Truman Show. The script falls flat as soon as you hear the voice over and makes you go "Uh oh, a film about films." It soon reverts to a montage of people telling us why cinema is 'magical' mixed in with a love story and some communist subtexts in there which seem dull and uninteresting and sort of shows the script is desperatly trying to tell a story of some sort of importance while Frank Darabont's films just keeping getting worse and worse. (Can't wait for Farhenheit 451, Frank!) Good preformances from Carrey and Martin Landau but you'd be better off giving this one a miss.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: If the film is supposed to be set in 1951, how come the characters are playing "Stranger on the Shore" written in 1962?
Rating: 
Summary: The Bill of Rights is the law of the heart
Review: This film is a parabole of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment of the US Constitution. As such it is a masterpiece. We flash back to the McCarthy era when some politicians were obssessed and pbnubilated by a communist plot against America that never existed but in their warped minds. One film author is named by someone as a communist and he has to clear himself by naming some more people. He knows it is wrong by principle. He knows the names are those of people who have nothing to do with the accusation and who were at the most, like him maybe naive and certainly moved by the show of misery, suffering and war in the world. They were humane and nothing else and they used their plain constitutional rights to do something about it. The trick of this film is to make that person have an accident at the time of the accusation, lose his memory and assume the identity of a real war hero who was lost in action. The people of the little town of Lawson want him to assume that identity to give them their dream back, the dream of the America that has fought for the freedom of the human race in the world for three odd centuries. He is led into this situation by his loss of memory, though he recovers it at the very moment when the FBI and others catch up on him. As his real self he has no courage and is ready to play the game of the politicians to get his life back. As his assumed self he should fight for the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment even if he has to go to jail for it. The dense ending of the film is romantic about this situation and makes him make the good ethical choice, but that turns him into an untouchable hero. The film forgets that thousand of people suffered because of this short period of anticommunist bigotry in the head of a fundamentalist senator. Yet the film goes farther with a punchline at the very end, after he has recovered his job at the studio and his life, or nearly so. He realizes that filmmakers and film artists have another way of yielding : to produce some pitiful and pathetic stuff that loses human depth and replaces it with melodramatic images, and images are nothing but virtual emotions, no real deep-felt feelings and sentiments. You can imagine the return of the hero back to Lawson. If you can't do watch the film. Maybe you will come to the idea that our world would be a lot better if the powerful - and power is transient - stopped crucifying innocent victims. But fighting against victimization is a good good good thing to do : it provides you with a clear and shiny conscience.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: A different (and better) Jim Carrey
Review: I never thought I would see any Jim Carrey movie that I'd like or one I would sit through and finish. It happened just a couple of weeks ago with "The Majestic." I never had the chance to like Carrey, having been introduced to him in the monkey movie, "Ace Ventura." The faces he made in that and in subsequent movies did not in the least appeal to me. In fact, I never even went to see any of his movies in the cinema. Those of his that I've watched fleetingly, I only watched on TV, when there wasn't anything else on except "Survivor" and "Joe Millionaire" and it was too tiring to do anything else.
I'm a definite sucker for sob movies and "The Majestic" has more than its fair share of sob moments. But more than that, I think it was seeing Jim Carrey trying to look semi-serious (he is probably not capable of looking totally serious, except if he is shown lying face down) that got me glued to the TV. It seemed like he was playing his character tongue-in-cheek, which worked while he was assuming the character of the son (as I guess he was supposed to look somewhat lost doing so), but seemed like a bad parody before and after that (how do you look serious without making faces?). But having seen him do the monkey movies, I was amazed at his attempt at trying not to contort his face or open his mouth too wide. To me, his effort was well worth the failure - or it was probably the failure that highlighted the effort and made it even more admirable. I must admit, my regard for Jim Carrey has climbed up a bit after having seen him in this movie.
All the other actors appeared more at ease portraying their characters than Jim did. My favorite performance was that of Martin Landau's, very effortless and captivating. He could have lit up "The Majestic" (the movie as well as the theater in the film) all by himself. I also enjoyed watching Gerry Black, the actor who played the doorman - he was so serene and highly effective.
The overall conception of the movie was too melodramatic for my taste. The desire to gain sympathy was too obvious. There was a hurried feel to the movie; it felt like the filmmakers thought the middle parts had been dragging on too long and they couldn't wait for it to be over. But the ambience looked authentic and the casting was first-rate, especially the risk taken at having cast Jim Carrey when they could have easily picked Tom Cruise and messed around with his signature look - the I'm-a-movie-star-don't-mess-with-me look that the public laps up at (which to me is reminiscent of Ben Stiller's supposed unique look in Zoolander - it doesn't change no matter what it's called, but that's another topic altogether).
Rating:
Summary: Martin Landau Magnificent
Review: I saw the promo for this film some time back, and I have been chasing a copy ever since. My main reason to get this DVD was Martin Landau. I totally loved the charm of the scenes involving Landau. The rest of the film was entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. I don't care that the film was in anyway political... the key thing for me was that I enjoyed Martin Landau's peformance immensely, and was pleasantly surprised that Carrey delivered a great performance through the film.
Maybe I am a sucker for the "B" film, but in this case, the "B" stands for Beautiful. Totally worth it to see Landau, and the supporting cast is stellar.
Rating:
Summary: Buy The Soundtrack
Review: This film is entertaining and harmless; simple feel-good stuff. Its best features are the soundtrack (awesome boogie-woogie piano and big-band clarinet!) and the cameo appearance of B-movie demi-god Bruce Campbell in the movie-within-a-movie role of an "Intrepid Explorer". Worth a rental; buy the soundtrack.
Rating: 
Summary: Corniest Crime Of The Century (So Far)
Review: This film's first scene actually starts with a bunch of studio execs in an appalling brainstorming session. They are attempting to rewrite the plot for a film they are making (NOT THIS ONE). In the process they create an inept and farfetched story. It struck me as the synopsis for this film. Read other reviews to get the ridiculous plot details for this film. After the REAL writer made his/her pitch for "The Majestic", this film should have been canned immediately by the studio.
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