The Majestic

Rating:
Summary: Jim Carrey Need Try A Little Harder!
Review: The Majestic gives Jim Carrey a new movie persona. He is subtle and caring and almost not Jim Carrey in this movie. Taking the premise of 'It's A Wonderful Life' and mixing it with Pleasantville, this movie is the story of amnesia.

There is the wonderful performance given by Martin Landau who thinks Jim is his son and a great supporting cast around him. The story is about Hollywood back in the 50's when everyone thought communism was running around controlling everything. Even Hollywood. Carrey's character is a screenwriter of "B" (Low budget) films. He gets sucked into the controversy and is excommunicated out of Hollywood and the studio he was working at. On the way home he gets into an accident and gets amnesia.

He wonders into this small town and is mistaken for a dead, but not forgotten, marine who fought in WWII and turned up missing. The uncanny likeness of hi to this Marine makes the whole town believe who he is - is not really who he is. Without giving a lot away he eventually comes to terms with his "father" (Landau).

The movie is charming and sweet. The performances are good. The DVD also contains some behind the scenes footage and interviews as well as many deleted scenes from the film. It is a good DVD for film students on the power of editing and the production studios.

This film is a good wholesome film for the whole family. Not the best for Carrey and not wonderful overall but it does have its' heart in the right place.

Rating:
Summary: Good effort by Carrey
Review: In my late teens I was a huge Jim Carrey fan. As soon as Ace Ventura came out, I was hooked. After seeing him act in several movies, you can see beyond the comedy of the screenplay and look at the performances being given. He proved with Liar Liar, The Truman Show, and Man on the Moon that he could act beyond comedy. Unfortunately I believe that he waited too long in his career to take on a non comedic role such as this one. I personally liked the movie and the performance by Carrey. But most of his fans are too far gone to see him as much more than a clown. Although I did like the acting in this film, I wasn't that impressed with the screenplay. It was not very believable that a person could be mistaken to the degree that his character was. With that aside, it was a decent movie. If for no other reason than to see a good performance from Jim Carrey, I recommend seeing The Majestic.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, a Jim Carrey movie I can sit through!
Review: OK, right off the bat I have to confess to a tremendous dislike of the inane, moronic characters Jim Carrey has played in films such as Me, Myself and Irene,Dumb and Dumber, The Cable Guy, etc. Those roles were so stupid that I thought Carrey would end up becoming a caricature of himself. Imagine my amazement when my wife brings home "The Majestic" and the family sits down to watch it. The credits roll and Jim Carrey comes on the screen. I'm halfway off the couch when...Ok, the movie starts. 1950s blacklisting era. Finger-pointing at communists or "fellow-travelers." Repent and name names to save your career. Someone has named B-movie screenwriter Carrey and he's been called before a special HUAC meeting in LA. Distraught and drunk, he goes for a drive along the Pacific Coast Highway, goes off a bridge and hits his head and awakens with nary a memory of who he is... I won't tell much more, because this is a really enjoyable movie about love, community, honesty and redemption. It showed me that Carrey has the potential to play a semi-serious role -- though I must confess I kept expecting him to do something outlandish and goofy. Thankfully he didn't and this 2-1/2 hour movie just flew by. It's good family fare and, yes, I'd definitely see it again and recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good DVD to rent or buy. Wow, who knew Jim Carrey could act? As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Well, gollllllyyyyy!"

Rating:
Summary: Otherwise a charming film...
Review: Amnesia and a startling physical resemblance to a local hero (MIA in WWII) give L.A. screenwriter (Jim Carrey) a new life--temporarily. Carrey does a splendid job--no surprise, since comedy requires more skill than "drama" to begin with. Good acting all around, and a charming view of post-WWII, small-town life in California. The main problem with this movie is the writer's implication that communism wasn't so bad: The real villain was the U.S. Government. This notion needs correction: Communism is bad. It was outlawed as a party in the U.S. of America because, like today's Al Qaida, it vowed to destroy the United States (and our free, constitutional government)and take over the world. And like Al Quaida, it promises a hoax-utopia in which only tyrants flourish, and dissidents are murdered by the millions. Except for this glaring abuse of history, it's a charming film.

Rating:
Summary: "Majestic" brings political inspiration to the gavel
Review: Do you remember the first time you saw "It's a Wonderful Life"? The ideal setting for the first viewing would be on the same night that Jimmy Stewart found the enlightenment that would save his livelihood: A frost-cracked Christmas Eve night. Fifty-some years later, Stewart and co-star Donna Reed are resurrected every year on the night we wait for Santa to come. Will we be watching Jim Carrey's third dramatic work "The Majestic" on NBC some Saturday night half a century from now? Not a small town chance, probably because it got chewed up to its bare bones by 57% of critics. But the movies must be at least momentarily compared, not because they are on the same cinematic level (for they certainly aren't) but because Frank Capra's vision of the intended heroic America is so strongly present.

A viewer may find it difficult to pinpoint exactly which of the two co-plots the film wishes to put more of an emphasis on. One paints a likely rosy picture of rural America still sweating from the Great Depression and the loss of, I believe, 17 boys in the Second World War who were raised in the town. The other is a candid statement against bureaucracy in its worst form, that of pushing a citizen to openly lie under oath to escape devastating charges. But the film makes quick work of the confusion by tying both together with the fundamental theme of doing the right thing, even in the face of extraordinary professional and personal loss.

"The Majestic" shows only three flaws, but one is wiped out by the virtue priorly expressed as so important in modern American citizenship. The dialogue Jim Carrey is compelled to use is reduced to a cliche fest, with countless romantic utterings that don't advance the harmless love scenes. The movie extends to over two and a half hours, and I can't help but think that one of them could have been shaved off to still accomplish an important movie. The third may be the sentimentality, which, in a period other then the one we are faced with now in our volatile world, may appear sickening. But the end that the annoying means achieve is one of importance to anyone who wishes to take their rights of citizenship seriously so that we may benefit from the strongest society possible: One that uses its political tools to build a system of honesty and an absence of deceit, morals for which blood is spilled.

Rating:
Summary: Unabashedly sentimental
Review: Jim Carrey plays it straight in this movie about a young Hollywood screenwriter who is beginning to live the good life just as the McCarthy era begins. He is being accused of Communist ties (a false allegation) as he takes a drive and has an accident which causes him to lose his memory. He is discovered by the people in a small California town who think he is a presumed-dead war hero who has been missing for 9 years. The town is thrilled to welcome him back, especially his father, played by Martin Landau, and his girlfriend. He lives the life of a hero, until his memory begins to return and the Feds track him down and return him to Hollywood and then Washington to appear before the House Unamerican Activities Committee. Carrey turns in a fine performance in an entertaining film that only occasionally goes over the top with patriotic fervor.

Rating:
Summary: What was that all about?!
Review: Unless you're a collector or a hard-core fan of Jim, why would you buy it?? I'd say wait for it to come on National TV and then watch it and get disappointed anyway.

Rating:
Summary: another great offering from carrey
Review: it's like this: you either love or hate jim carrey.

i happen to love him.

i caught this movie while on a long distance flight, and it was well worth the time i spent NOT sleeping. he had showed that he can do more than just "dumb and dumber" and "ace ventura" routine with "the truman show"... but i think that this movie cemented the fact. although both truman and majestic aren't exactly serios material, they nonetheless dissect the human psyche with admirable frankness.

usually when talking about the 50's people will think of a rather quaint time but i think this movie conveys the certain grimness of that era. some might say that this movie doesn't really develop the premise of the "communism-paranoia" but i beg to differ. it *is* rather corny at the ending, but other than that, issues like what happens to families after the war, honesty, freedom and privacy of the people are well portrayed.

this is a good movie for a rainy day, or when you need something that is light BUT not totally devoid of any message.

i highly recommend this movie to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: The Majestic: Everyone's Voice
Review: Setting in LA and a local town of CA in 1950s McCarthy ear, "The Majestic" tells us a Hollywood screenwriter's life-change story, Peter Appleton was blacklisted for the suspicion of being a Communist by HUAC, though getting involved in a traffic accident and losing the memory, fortunately he was alive and picked up by a old man from a local town called Lawson, in that town he was mistakenly identified as a hero-a missing soldier and was warmly welcomed simply because he was perfectly alike the missing soldier. The love of his "father" and the kindness of town people totally changed his attitude of life. The Majestic, a movie theater in the town, was the turning point where he made the choice to live a down-to-earth life rather than to fade in Hollywood.
It is worthy of keeping a DVD of this movie, because it shows its heart-warming scenes to the audiences. See, when a man tries to change his mood by watching a movie through TV, no one wants to be educated or lectured but everyone like to be warmed and moved simply and honestly like going to see a classic movie in "The Majestic". It is everyone's voice.

Rating:
Summary: Where is Preston Sturges when we need him?
Review: Have you ever seen Shaw's Pygmalion with Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller? In each beautifully acted scene, you are waiting for the Lerner and Lowe music to appear, but you still love the film. Well, in this movie you are waiting for the comedy to appear, a la Hail the Conquering Hero and it doesn't appear. So now you are stuck with a fantasy/drama about the blacklist. But there's already a good documentary "Hollywood and the Blacklist" and there's "The Front," with Woody Allen and Zero Mostel. Then you are hoping that Frank Darabont's follow-up to the superb Shawshank Redemption and the watchable if over-symbolic Green Mile will be a humdinger. The movie theater is beautiful, the subject still draws us in, but Jim Carrey's final speech is inspiring but too late. Instead you purchase the following adjectives from the movie mistake candy counter:

Snail-paced: the greatness of Jim Carrey is his unpredictably mad but sharp timing. The great movies of the 40's and 50's relied on timing. Are you telling me that most audiences from that era would have stayed around for this potboiler? I'll take a Howard Hawks screwball comedy any day.

Corny-As my father, a movie lover since the 20's, and another reviewer have exclaimed. Here's three examples. First, you know you are in trouble when you have Jim Carrey, drunk, spill his life to a stuffed smiling monkey. And it's our misfortune that the monkey artistically reappears at the end of the movie. (You know, "Monkeybone" is not that bad a movie. Brendan Fraser is funny and has a great goofy smile and the monkey talks back and torments, as a monkey should.) Second, based upon the theater renovation montage, I was expecting Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney to show up and give their all. And, third, what book does the lawyer girlfriend leave for Carrey before he meets with the HUAC? My wife predicted Plato's Republic. Hah-I won-it was the Constitution! Thank goodness it wasn't The Prophet.

Scene-chewing: Martin Landau is a master, but you shouldn't resort to ravenous comsumption when the dialogue doesn't inspire. No, Mr. Darabont, tell Martin to pull it in, we get it! He looks daffy instead of dignified.

Implausible: Are you telling me a father couldn't tell his son from an imposter. C'mon, any good enough parent lovingly knows the contours and quirks of his or her child's body. And as my wife pointed out, where are all the smokers in this little town? In normal life, more citizens than not had a ciggy dangling from the lips. And don't tell me that this is just a fantasy of a small town and life in the 40's and early '50's. Note the flashback scene of WWII soldiers writing playing cards and writing home to their honeys. Almost EVERYONE is smoking in that short scene, unfiltered! The movie structure unsuccessfully swings both ways trying to be fantasy and real life.

Stiff: When Carrey's character leaves the sody-shop with his supposed long-lost love, the whole town follows the two of them down the street. That's the director pushing the blocking to create "charm."

Trite: The movie collapses under the weight of it's script when it descends in a "movie of the week" scene: the elderly black man, who opens up the theater on time is given a watch(why is there only man of color in the town, and how could he stand it?). It's the glances and sentiment that are makes one squirm.

Why do Frank Capra's films shine when this this one doesn't. A sense of humor, enough believability to overcome sentiment and corniness, great writing that complements great acting and not the opposite. These are intangibles. I hope that Mr. Darabont and his colleagues learn from the failures of this noble effort and make a thrilling film next time.