Rating: 
Summary: Target of film: dung pile. Mission accomplished.
Review: Okay, okay, that was a little harsh but this film was a little harsh too. We get to see Truman Burbank in the sequal to the Truman Show.....oh wait, this isn't the Truman Show Part Duex? Sorry for the mistake. In all fairness, the film isn't THAT bad. It's just that it isn't as good as we were all made to believe by the selective raving reviews by the press. In it, we have Peter Appleton(a splendid pre-sixties American name don't ya think?), played solidly by Jim Carrey. He has forgotten his memory and ended up in a town where everyone thinks he's their fabled war hero, a man who hasn't been seen in years. As it turns out, Appleton's new identity brings a new hope to the town, a revitalized attempt to open the old theatre, and one gorgeous blonde hottie. This particular blondie not only possesses a great smile and sense of humor, but also the make-out drive of a pre-sixties(the time period when the film was set) porn star, thus making Petey a very, very happy disillusioned young man. This is where the film needed a huge make-over. It's right before Petey boy dicovers that his "girl friend" is a complete hottie. I think the director should have taken a twisted turn here, rather deciding to go with a monsterous mule of a woman as the mystery girl. Wouldn't it be fun to have Peter Appleton discover that his old "girlfriend" is actually Betty The Hefty Horse Woman, a woman with three teeth missing, a lazy eye, and enough arm hair to fill a tanker truck? How fun it would have been for Betty to bring Peter home to meet his forgotten offspring at the carnival, Joey the Jugglin Boy and MaGee, the "Twisted Tater Tot" girl who gets her thrills form eating peanut butter naked under the pale moon light. But wait, don't stop there, we'd also have to include, for the seriousness of the film, the one-eyed demented sister of Betty, Abbey the Goat Girl, the one they keep locked in the basement for the safety of the townsfolk. Now that, my friends, would have been a great plot line. A film that would no doubt counter its nemesis, Memento, in an epic battle for the most honest movie of the memory loss genre. But, that's not how the direction of the film went. Instead, we get to see Peter Appleton end up in Leave-it-to-Beaver-land USA, practically engaged to a beautiful woman and the son of the sweetest old man since The Shawshank Redemption's Brooks, the book keeper. One can only wonder how the blonde woman has stayed single for so long. Folks, we're talking years here, not months. To top it all off, we get to hear Jim Carrey do a modern rendition of Bill Pullman's Independence Day "We Will Not Go Quietly In The Night" speech. Oh, the joy of it all. Watch this film. Like I wrote earlier, it's not THAT bad, it's just not THAT good either. Take care and in case I don't see ya, good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight! Oops, wrong movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable, but Otherwise Uninspiring and Unoriginal
Review: "The Majestic" is a piece of cinematic nostalgia that is unfortunately weighed down by a simplistic, heavy-handed moralism. While enjoyable, it lacks the originality and inspiration necessary to make it truly engaging. Set in the early 1950s, the movie straddles two starkly contrasting worlds: Hollywood, populated by shallow people motivated only by self interest; and small-town America, represented by the fictional California coastal community of Lawson, home to hard-working, dedicated people who will sacrifice all for principle. Casting an ominous shadow across these two divergent landscapes is the dark cloud of anti-Communism, represented by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and personified by the Committee's Majority Counsel Elvin Clyde (Bob Balaban) -- bespectacled, humorless, single-minded, and stereotypically one dimensional. The film's protagonist, Peter Appleton (Jim Carrey), is a rising screenplay writer who quietly suffers formulaic rewrites of his scripts by unimaginative studio executives. When scrutiny by HUAC for a youthful indiscretion leaves him black-listed, he flees the shallows of Hollywood in a bout of drunken frustration, seeking solace up the California coast. A car accident along the way strips him of his memory and lands him in the open arms of Lawson, where he is mistaken for Luke Trimble, a war hero missing in battle and presumed dead. The town celebrates his supposed return, reinvigorated with hope after years of loss during World War II. But when Peter's memory eventually returns, he faces not only the town's rejection but also the unrelenting pursuit of Elvin Clyde. Ultimately he must face HUAC, and in response he must choose either the way of Hollywood or the way of Lawson. The film features a solid cast, including Carrey in another sound, non-comedic performance. Nonetheless, the story requires an ongoing suspension of disbelief in order to succeed. How could so many people who knew Luke intimately -- his father (Martin Landau), his fiancée (Laurie Holden), and numerous life-long friends and neighbors -- be willing to embrace a total stranger based on nothing more than a physical resemblance? The weightiness of such a proposition has a natural, downward pull that the film cannot quite overcome. But this is not the film's greatest weakness: instead, it is when the film attempts to stir deep emotions that it bottoms out in a shallowness that betrays its origins in a Hollywood as banal as the one it critiques: When Peter reads the last letter home from the real Luke, the words of that doomed soldier to his distant fiancée are intended to evoke the sadness of impending loss. But to anyone who has watched the magnificent Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War, the circumstances and sentiments of the letter are immediately recognizable as a thought-for-thought (and in some places, word-for-word) plagiarism of the heart-rending letter penned by Union soldier Sullivan Ballou. When finally called before a special session of HUAC (inexplicably broadcast live on both television and radio), Peter's speech is clearly meant to produce the patriotic, lump-in-the-throat reaction many have to Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". But instead of stirring patriotism, it is filled with simplistic platitudes. Instead of conviction, it sounds contrived. It is small-town America through the distorted lens of Hollywood, and it just doesn't work very well. Good performances by a high-profile cast and cinematography that paints a pleasant nostalgia make "The Majestic" an enjoyable watch. But its lack of creativity and its clunky attempt to wed small-town patriotism to to left-leaning Hollywood politics result in only a so-so film overall.
Rating: 
Summary: Hem Jesti!
Review: I have alot of respect for Jim Carrey as an actor.The thing is that people never give him the chance to do a drama film.He has been in many comendy films in which he rolls his eyes and goes crazy such as The Grinch,Liar Liar,and The Cable Guy.Now he does The Majestic a film in which he is never running around and jumping and throwing stuff like he always does.Instead he is calm and talks like a normal person and does nice things.And then nobody goes to see the movie. At a whopping 152 minutes The Majestic is an epic tale about a Hollywood screenwriter named Peter Appleton in the 1950's who is acused of being a Communist because he attended meeting with a girl.He did not know the meetings were of Communist activity.After a tragic accendent in the water he passes out and ends up on a beach where his whole life is going to change. On this town next to the beach called Lawson California.There he meets Harry Trimble who thinks that Peter is really his long lost son Luke who was lost in the war.Peter doesn't remember anything prior to waking up on the beach and then becomes Luke. As Luke he meets Adale who was his girlfriend 9 1/2 years ago.Then he was missing in the line of duty.But now the FBI smells something fishy because why would an American run away after being accused of being a Communist? The Majestic is a wonderful film that will always be one of my favorites. ENJOY!
Rating: 
Summary: Someone suggested buying this for Father's Day - DON'T.
Review: My father was a veteran of WWII in the Pacific, and he would have walked out after the first fifteen minutes of this pro-Communist candy bar on celluloid. I just got done watching "The Majestic", and I don't know why I'm not yet in a diabetic coma. This is the corniest movie I believe I have ever seen. I also have a problem with this guy being molded into a hero who stands up to the big, bad, anti-Communists (who were equally menacing and buffoonish at the same time...a feat Hollywood and the media usually credit to Republican presidents). Not only that, but the deceased Medal of Honor winner war hero would have stood up to those big, bad, anti-Communists, too, if he could have (yeah, right) - and from him, Carrey's character gets his inspiration. Uh huh. Hollywood is so predominantly liberal that I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the underlying message here. I'm as against innocent people being dragged before congressional committees as the next guy, but come ON. Communism actually IS bad, but they never mention that. There wasn't a single believable thing in this movie. It stunk. I just hope kids who see this junk don't think this is the way it really was, but I suspect that's what the creators of this sugar-coated propaganda are hoping.
Rating:
Summary: Trying for Jimmy Stewart & Frank Capra--Misses
Review: This is an ok evening's entertainment. It is not terrible. The problem is that it set its goal so high. It tapped into our collective memories of two men who met those goals, Jimmy Stewart acting in any of the numerous films he did for director Frank Capra. Jim Carrey has done a lot of excellent work, most of it comedic. He is on more uncertain territory when he tries leading man romantic and/or dramatic roles as he does here. This film often goes over the edge into downright corny. Capra and Stewart always played dangerously close to the edge themselves on the corny aspect but managed to just pull their films off anyway. The plot is that Carrey loses his memory after an auto crash. He has just lost his job as a Hollywood screenwriter (1950s) because he's (almost laughably) a suspected Communist. He finds himself in a small town north of Hollywood where the citizens all "recongize" him as a local boy lost in World War II who has returned home. Not having any other memory, Carrey believes it too and begins to lead a halcyon existence in a town that is too good to be true. It is utterly predictible from that point forward but it is an ok evening's entertainment. I would not buy it on DVD though, that's for sure.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is worthy of an audience!
Review: This movie, as I recall, was laregely ignored when it first came out. It deserves a bigger audience on DVD or VHS. For some it might be overly long and preachy but if you look beyond that you will find a sweet, sentimental movie that has a lot of heart. I thought this movie would expand Jim Carrey's scope into more mature roles which he is capable of and is deserving. I could easily see him one day winning the respect of the Academy voters and finally getting an Oscar for a movie and not a lifetime of them. Why is it that comedians like Robin and Jim Carrey do so well in dramatic straight roles? Supporting actors like Martin Landau and David Ogden Stiers also give unforgettable performances and Laurie Holden is not only a gorgeous actress but she emotes depth and emotion with subtleness. The movie is also very beautiful to look at with a lovely California town and scenery which looks like it was painted by Thomas Kinkade. This is also a great movie to watch with your grandparents, your mom and dad without worrying about swearing or sex. Yes, it's schmaltzy and sentimental but sometimes we need movies like this!
Rating: 
Summary: Majestic Fun
Review: I have read previous reviews of this film which prompts me to write a review of my own. First off, The Majestic is not perfect. But, for what it is, it's pretty darn close. I do not believe this is a film about anything other than an attempt on the writer's part to let us know that we have choices in life. The choices we make in life determine the quality and value of our life. I do not believe the subplot about communism is meant to be a majorly serious attempt to address the issue of the Hollywood witch hunts of the 50's. It is a plot device to help the main character see how there is more to living a life than just wanting to be comfortable in the material aspects of life. The look of this film is wonderful. It is like a grownup fairy tale world of what we would like life in a small town in the fifties to have been. The music is without peer. Isham did a fantastic job of allowing the music to evoke a mood. Carrey is sincere and without goofiness in his acting. But, Martin Landau steals the show as his father. The dignity and emotional integrity he gives to the father is extremely touching. Since 9-11, I have taken stock in how I have had a part in creating a world of ugliness because of selfish thinking. Well, to see that selfishness in its ultimate form of insanity as espoused by a so-called religion, I have stepped back from the "ways of the world" and I have made a choice of surrounding myself with the prettier aspects of life. The Majestic reaffirms the dignity and character of mankind without violence and sex. I think we need more movies like this to help us as a civilization get back on track. We don't need another Black Hawk Down with its violence or There's Something About Mary with its demeaning sexual humor. There are beautiful aspects of life if we look for them. The Majestic proves it.
Rating:
Summary: This is an extraordinarily bad movie!
Review: Well. It's not often that a movie manages to bore me, offend me and make me groan, all at the same time. First, yes, the mood is intended to be Capra-esque, although the plot is largely lifted from the much more acerbic Preston Sturges ("Hail the Conquering Hero"). If you happened to like this movie, see if you can find the Sturges film. And by the way, even Capra at his most sentimental is much tougher than this gooey flick. It's painfuly slow and boring. Endless (although it appears it's going to end several times). Setting aside the unlikely possibility that a whole town would indulge in a collective delusion without more questioning, the gosh-darn credulous sweetness of just about everybody in the town mirrors a nauseating nostalgia that has nothing to do with any real-life people ever. Even Capra admitted this -- just consider the balancing view of Pottersville in "It's a Wonderful Life." The worst part of the movie is when Carrey is able to overcome the dreaded red-baiters of HUAC by simply reading from the First Amendment. This is such an insult to all the good people whose lives were ruined by the witch hunt that I was finally roused from my boredom to get angry. And then to place the cherry on top, apparently the whole small town is filled with extremely enlightened liberals who consider him a hero for standing up to the committee. If this unlikely event happened at the time, I suspect that McCarthy, Cohn, and Hoover would have put the whole town under surveillance. Carrey is acceptable in the film, but the director and writer have drowned him in dreck.
Rating:
Summary: For All Its Intention, Too Long, And Too Good to Be True
Review: Frank Darabont loves old Hollywood films, and that's apparent from his works. In "Shawshank Redemption" we saw Rita Hayworth film "Gilda" and in "The Green Miles" musical classic "Top Hat." As if he wants to say Hollywood is no longer what it should be, he again took Jimmy Stewart material in "The Majestic" in which Jim Carrey plays a role of Peter, a screenwriter in the McCarthy period, with a lot of references to old Hollywood movies again. Peter is tired of his hackeyed work (as described in Fitzgerald's funny "Pat Hobby" stories), and of stupid ideas of studio bosses. But he is suddenly given another life when he meets an car accident, loses his memories, and gets stranded on the shore of a small town. And the people of the town recognize him as Luke, a war hero supposed to be dead, but now coming back there as a symbol of hope. He starts a new life as Luke, falls in love with a girl, and finally re-opens a theater "The Majestic." Everything is all right until he, as well as FBI, remember his lost identity, which is in fact blacklisted on UnAmerican Activity Subcommittee. The rest of the story should not be told, but it is not a hard task for anyone to imagine that. And that moment surely has power, sincerity, and good performance from Carrey playing Peter wavering between two ways of life to choose, but the problem is that it takes too long time to reach there. As is often the case with Darabont's films, the film spends nearly 1 hour in the opening part to set up its situation. Though helped by Carrey in a serious vein, and Martin Landau as his "father," the film is sometime undeniably self-indulgent. (Actually, I slept for a while. Sorry, but it's true.) But to me, more fundamental problem is that we have much superior film that realizes the value "The Majestic" champions, that is, "The Front" starring Woody Allen (but directed by Martin Ritt). Just take a look at that, and you know what I mean. And though I admit the film "The Majestic" goes rather like a fable than a realistic story, its meaning is too obvious, its way of expressing it too far-fetched. It is a worthy attempt for Hollywood to look back this dark age, but you don't have to use this roundabout fashion, which includes incredible co-incidences (such as one character experiences two key incidents of life at the same time; or, small townspeople all believing Peter as Luke when he is about to summoned to the committee, etc.) Finally, what I disagree with the film most is its very easy, or naive conclusion about the proceedings at the Committee. What happened to Chaplin, who had to live in Europe after leaving America? Or what did scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo do when he was blacklisted (he used a "front" in his work, "Roman Holiday")? If you know these historical things, you never appreciate the finale as Darabont wanted you to. I don't deny his good-intention and value of film's allegorical meanings, but the film is too long, too thin, and most of all, misguiding in thinking about this important age in the history of modern America.
Rating:
Summary: Ho humm...
Review: First off, this movie isn't that bad. It's just that this movie simply tries too hard. It tries too hard to make us cry, to make us feel patriotic, and to make us long for the days of the innocence that supposedly existed in small towns across America during the 50's. It tries too hard to invoke the images of Jimmy Stewart in his prime... it makes one wonder if the scene in this movie where the studio execs are talking about bastardizing an existing movie script, by adding hackneed sentimentality in order to pull at the heart strings of the audience was something secretly taped when the producers initially pitched "The Majestic" to the studio brass. This movie is, in many ways, a throwback to those old black and white movies that your parents, or grandparents liked. The thing is, this film, although competent, isn't stirring. Carey gives a subdued, golly-gee-goshed-darned performance, but... it's just lacking. Now, I'm not saying that I wanted his character in this movie to begin talking out of his butt, while growing a pompador, but... this role did not allow Carey to inject any humor into the performance, whatsoever. Although it is nice to see Hollywood put out movies that don't involve explosions, silicone breasts, and massive CGI sequences, there are times, such as in this film, that you simply don't need to re-invent the wheel. Skip this movie, and go to the source. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", and "It's a Wondeful Life". Both did it better. Both were even edgier, if you could believe that, and both did it decades ago.
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