The Truman Show

Rating:
Summary: Plato's Cave
Review: Jim Carrey is surely proves he is a great actor - but this movie is stepping on slippery philosophical grounds. Underlying the interesting concept of unknowingly spending your entire life on television, The Truman Show teaches us that human beings are not capable of understanding and perceiving "true reality." Just as in Plato's Republic, in the example of the cave shadows that are mistaken for reality, Jim Carrey is only allowed to understand Truth once he breaks beyond the bounds of our Earthly constraints. The movie asks, how can we know anything at all for sure?

Hanging on to such metaphysical assumptions is very dangerous. Existence requires no explanation for why it is exists, because it exists before and independant of any human perception. Existence exists - it is a foundation, an axiom, and hated by professors of philsophy the world round.

The danger of The Truman Show's "primacy of conciousness" nod is understood when we are told that "philosopher kings," the select few who hold the genius and ability to understand "true reality" must reign over the rest of us - you begin to lay the philosophical foundation for dictatorship.

Rating:
Summary: This movie [stunk]
Review: It was depressing. For a guy to be so naive all his life and to suddenly find out about it at 30 (not exactly that young no more) didn't make sense.

It was really just about a world wide audience watching an everyday guy's boring life. No real action, no honestly from his best friend, ever, and it doesn't even show him interacting with he REAL world for the first time in his life.

It didn't really show the girl he really liked and him being together that long. For how much of the movie showed his life as a rat in a giant cage, they could've showed him being outside in the real world for the first time in his life to compensate.

It was like 'Enemy of the State', but only with all his clothes and everywhere he went. Also, the movie was a little too serious because Jim Carrey wasn't really putting on any comedy performances.

It was just depressing for a guy to know that after 30 years of his life wasted that he finally realizes that he's been played for a fool all that time. If it were another actor that's younger and to find out about his unfortunate life after only 20 years, then he'd still have his whole life ahead of him.

This movie to me was boring, depressing, and I just felt like there wasn't a long enough, detailed happy ending.

Rating:
Summary: A one of a kind movie
Review: This is such a creative movie. The story of a man's whole life being taped on television in a town that is actually a production set, and he has no idea. The parts when Truman start to find out that something is not right are the best. Like when one of the lighting fixtures fell from the sky, or when it started raining on Truman but nowhere else.

Are you wondering, "What in the world is this guy talking about?" If so, pick up a copy of this movie, and all your questions will be answered.

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Summary: One For All, All For One: Weir Watching "The Truman Show"
Review: The first time I watched "The Truman Show" I had a tough time getting past the reverential critical reaction hyping the film. Nary a discouraging word was said by those honoured scribes, and until I saw the movie, I believed them. Sadly, no film could live up to such lofty praise, and "The Truman Show" was no exception. I felt disappointed by its imperfection. Until I saw the film again recently, that is, clear of the hype. My reaction to it was much different this time. It's a very good -- thought not great -- film.

The major problem I have with "The Truman Show" is that it gives up its secret too early. A much more suspenseful movie could have been made if the audience, along with the protagonist, were kept in the dark longer. The sense of discovery these two entities could have shared would be staggering, the ultimate revelation of the man behind the curtain. I understand why the movie didn't go this way. I understand why director Peter Weir, a sensible sort, didn't want his movie to be about a gimmick (oh what a gimmick it would have been!). He was aiming for a bigger metaphor, and I think he hit it just perfectly.

The town/studio that the filmmakers have created is a wonder to behold. Self-contained, it's designed to both steer Truman along his daily path, so that the camera can catch the product placements which are the sole source of the show's revenue, and to psychologically torment him, so that he'll never ever think of leaving. It's a town filled with little flourishes that only the discerning viewer will catch. Did you notice that the garbage can his neighbour is always carrying has an eyehole? It's just one touch, unexplained throughout that film's first half that contributed to the flawless tapestry of the town.

The film is structured wonderfully. Except for an expository prologue (which cheekily replaces the film's credits with what appears to be the TV-show-within-the-film's credits), the audience is allowed to slowly follow Truman's discovery that the world he thought was real is not all it appears to be. A studio light falls from the sky; confusing, until a radio report later that day reveals that an airplane inexplicably dropped some equipment. Truman's long lost father, dressed in ratty clothing, attempts to make contact with him; later, a newspaper headline bemoans town's homeless problem. Most effectively, Truman longs to be reunited with the true love of his life in a way that's at first hinted at, then, in a stunning revelatory moment, becomes bold and emotional.

With all this good stuff to behold, this is one of the few times when a film's running time feels too short. "The Truman Show", possibly because it is ostensibly a movie about a popular TV show, sells itself short. It needn't have wrapped itself up too quickly. I could have stood another thirty or forty minutes tacked on to its already hundred minute running time, the better to enjoy the richness of the world that has been created, to more effectively delve into the past that has come to inform the present story, and to allow the fine cast to further explore and flesh-out the characters they've been given.

Jim Carrey got a lot of credit for taking a role that would seem to be miles away from manic buffoon he usually plays. Well, that assessment is only half right. For most of the film's first half, Truman is a boisterous fellow, amiable and friendly to all. He isn't yet suspicious that something is amiss, and thus he gives as much joy as he gets. The joy he gets doesn't come from real people, though. It comes from actors. Truman, a grotesque anthropological experiment, has never encountered sincerity. The insipid greeting he repeats every morning ("Good morning... and if I don't see you later, good afternoon, good evening, and good night") is little more than a catchphrase, delivered with a full fake smile and a mock-warm head tilt. These scenes have Carrey smack dab in his element, playing over the top and phony. But there's a purpose to his phoniness; it contrasts with the realization that Truman has to make in the film's second half, and the change that Carrey has to enact to go along with it. He becomes a quieter man, in moments. And when his mania bursts out, it comes in the form of a cunning schemer, intent on breaking down the walls that he just discovered are fencing him in. Carrey pulls off both of these sides of Truman very well, and although you can sometimes see though the seams and tell he's Oscar-fishing, it never detracts from the performance.

As for the grand metaphor that Weir, in conjunction with screenwriter Andrew Niccol, is looking for, well, it's certainly not an attack on the reality TV craze. That's a not-so-sacred cow that gets tagged in the crossfire, but certainly not the target the film is aiming at. It's really trying to make a point about loneliness. More specifically, the loneliness of the authentic man. In a world ravaged by greed and self-preservation, Truman is the only sincere person, and it's slowly eating him up inside. He thinks he lives in a town that's friendly and caring. He doesn't know that they're all paid to be there, and that he has no real friends or real family to call his own. His final choice, whether to stay in his comfortable yet hollow existence or forage forth into the great unknown, is a moment played with suspense and, ultimately, grace. Should he stay or should he go? That's the moral issue the film lays at the audience's feet. And as it keeps reminding us, the most important question, the one that none of us ever find the answer to in our real lives, is this: How is it all going to end?

Rating:
Summary: Underrated.
Review: Anyone who doubts Jim Carrey's dramatic acting abilities needs to see this movie. And if they didn't see it in him the first time, they need to watch it again. Though Carrey slips into Ace Ventura once or twice during the film, his outbursts are held to a minimum, and the seriously conflicted Truman Burbank character is allowed to take center stage.

The Truman Show is a commentary on several issues that many find themselves contemplating: privacy, the media and its power, reality, and truth as we know it. As a teacher, I have used this film as an aid to discuss controversial issues, and it never fails. As a movie fan, this was the first movie to really cause an intellectual discussion amongst my friends and I once we left the theater. As a Jim Carrey fan, I was pleased and, to say the least, vindicated after all of the negativity of his ability to actually act.

Two elements that I found particularly wonderful about this movie were the art direction (specifically camera angles) and the music. It is one of the few scores/soundtracks that I listen to regularly because of the non-soundtracky feel (for lack of a better word). But the art direction is unique and is forced to be so considering the nature of the film.

All of this aside, the story itself is compelling. What would one do if faced with being video taped without knowing it? It's an intriguing look at a world that could concievably happen if the exhibitionistic behavior displayed on the Internet with webcams and the world of surveillance were combined.

Even if all of that doesn't convince you, there are several moments of humor (the "viewers" in the homes, especially the guy in the tub are hilarious) and also some touching moments as well (Truman and Marlin on the end of the bridge driving golf balls). But that said, the movie is manipulative, which only adds to enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: Cue the Sun!
Review: Brilliant movie. I'm not sure why this movie came and went without much noise being made. Was it the fact that it was just another Jim Carrey movie... let alone Jim Carrey in a fairly dramatic role? My children almost seemed disappointed in Carrey. Disappointed in the fact that he wasn't acting like his normal characters - like Ace Ventura, Stanley Ipkiss or Lloyd Christmas. Wonderful performance by Jim Carrey and his supporting cast... Ed Harris, Laura Linney and Noah Emmerich (as Marlon). A film about false reality... all the characters in Truman's life are paid actors. Halfway thru, the story really picks up when Truman starts to figure things out. It's interesting to see the home audience watching and their reactions... from the viewers in the bar, the senior citizens watching at home with their Truman pillows, the car attendents, and even the guy that is forever in his bathtub. Truman Burbank's life is a TV show, and the whole world is watching. His dilemma begins when he gets the urge to explore - as he is telling his best friend Marlon about the need to "get out there and see the world"... first stop is the island of Fiji. Naturally, the producer of the TV show (Ed Harris as 'Cristof'), wants to keep him at bay and will do anything to stop him... for without Truman, he has no show. Truman has been forever afraid of the ocean - since his father 'died' in a storm at sea right before his eyes. Now Truman must sneak away from the cameras and face the ocean to leave his so-called reality. Cristof finds him in his boat and throws a wicked storm his way. Outlasting the storm Truman finds that the horizon isn't really what it seems. Great movie with a great ending. It makes you think about what "could" really be going on somewhere... that something or someone might be watching YOU.

Rating:
Summary: "Ignorance is bliss" -VS- "The truth shall set you free."
Review: The inspiring and heartfelt character of Truman reminded me of Forrest Gump. This may be Carrey's best performance ever even though it doesn't at all tap into his comedian skills.

This movie has many interpretations, but the one that stuck out most in my mind was that of "the truth shall set you free" versus "ignorance is bliss."

Truman lives in an artificial world where all his "friends" and even his wife are paid actors. Even the weather is fake and controlled. The director Christof defends that Truman's world is just as real as the "real world" only Truman's world is much safer, more pleasant, etc.

Once Truman begins to discover the truth of his world, his exploring nature leads him to break free from the studio world despite opposition, discomfort, and even endangerment to his life. This is supposed to show that truth is better than deception and that we have free will, etc. But if you think about it, Truman really had little choice. How could he get in bed with wife again knowing that all along, she has been a paid actor, as have been all his friends. How could he live with the betrayal; how could he continue as he had before knowing the world is watching him 24hrs a day?

In the ending, Truman is on the border of the studio. On one side is a pretty blue sky with a cheerful, although artificial, sun, and on the other side is an open door leading into complete darkness-- the outside "real" world. After a conversation with Christof, he steps through the door, proclaiming a phrase he had used with his next door neighbors every morning, "In case I don't see ya- good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!" Inspiring, but like I said, the real issue is whether or not Truman will ever wish he had never found out the truth about the studio world-- he was quite happy until he found out, after all. I guess it will depend upon what life he makes for himself on the outside. I think sometimes we want to be deceived or ignorant about things and other times we want the truth. The truth can hurt and it isn't always "enlightening."

The role of Christof introduces themes of God because that's what role he played. When Truman and his best "friend" were sitting watching the artificial sunset, his friend remarked about what a paintbrush He has. In the end when Christof is talking with Truman, he's speaking from above; Truman can't even see him nor has he ever met him although Christof has been watching him all Truman's life. An interesting debate is whether or not Christof did Truman more good than harm. When Truman behaves as he wants him to, Christof is benevolent to him. When Truman tries to leave the studio, he is very wrathful. Obviously, Christof's interests are not necessarily the same as Truman's and he decides he is better off rebelling despite Christof's retaliation. Most of the viewers seem totally happy about Truman's escape from the studio so it seems that he will not be replaced by another character. Overall, it is an inspiring, thought-provoking, and unique story. "The Matrix" is similar, in that people are put into artificial worlds which exist only on computer.

Rating:
Summary: Truman reveals society's ills
Review: Truman doesn't know it, but the world loves him. Since he was born, he has been living inside the world's largest TV studio with hidden cameras everywhere. He stays there because he has been psychologically conditioned to fear the water that surrounds his seacoast hometown.

His parents, best friend, even his wife are all actors. Only Truman himself thinks it's real. Until one day when a camera falls out of the sky, and he starts to notice that things are a little too coincidental to be natural. And thus Truman starts to find a way out.

This movie was funny at times, as most Jim Carrey movies are, but also sad, in how people became enamored with one man imprisoned for our entertainment. It is disturbing on many levels, but it is also heartening in Truman's struggle to be an independent person and not just a pawn in others' plan for him.

Rating:
Summary: Good Morning, Good Evening, and, Good Night...Carrey's best!
Review: This is Jim Carrey's best movie in my opinion. In this movie Carrey isnt character acting and making a goof of himself. I mean I love Jim Carrey movies but it was a nice change to see him play this part. Jim Carrey stars as Truman Burbank, a man whose entire life has been a tv show and he doesnt know it. Only when he falls in love with a castmate who mysteriously gets sent to Fiji just before she can tell him the truth, does he realize that he is trapped in a community of actors. I loved this movie. Its a must have for those who really love Jim Carrey's work and would love to see him in a wonderful role.

Rating:
Summary: One of Jim Carrey's best films.
Review: My dad said that I might not like this movie because Jim Carrey was serious in it. I loved it. It was clever and sad. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank who thinks his life needs more travel. He's about to find out that there is no way out of a filming show. Whatever he tries, bus to Chicago, plane to Figi, he can't get out. His whole life is one big show and this film is an exiting picture down to the last talk with the creator. If you want a movie that is serious with Jim Carrey, buy this one! It's fun.