EDtv Review
by Craig Roush (kinnopio AT execpc DOT com)April 2nd, 1999
EDTV
*** (out of 4) - a good movie
Release Date: March 26, 1999
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Ellen DeGeneres, Woody Harrelson, Martin Landau, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Hurley Directed by: Ron Howard
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (sex-related situations, partial nudity, crude language)
URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1999/edtv.htm
If John Steinbeck were alive today, he would be proud. The use of one man as a metaphor for many, a theme so prevalent in his great American novels, is also a principal element in EDTV. This latest media-versus-man movie, which might be loosely grouped with last summer's semiparanoia drama THE TRUMAN SHOW, gives us director Ron Howard's take on issues of celebrity, fame, misadventure, and the road less traveled. If not for the been-there-done-that feeling stapled to EDTV in the wake of THE TRUMAN SHOW this movie would be an innovative dramedy with much to say and a rather cute means of exhortation.
EDTV starts at RealTV, a cable television network which specializes in the FOX vein of it-actually-happened programming. Although the network is in a slump -- losing to the Gardening Channel, in fact -- program director Cynthia Topping (Ellen DeGeneres) has a hot idea. To boost ratings, the network will hold casting calls for a regular individual and then film his life twenty-four hours a day, indefinitely. Cynthia chooses San Francisco local Ed Pekurny (Matthew McConaughey) almost by chance, and soon our unassuming protagonist has more fame then he knows what to do with. It alienates his girlfriend Shari (Jenna Elfman) and his brother Ray (Woody Harrelson), and it even causes doubts in Ed's mind as to whether or not this new life is truly what he bargained for.
The ending is a clever escape, but it's not what the audience bargained for, and in that sense it's similar to the Peter Weir-directed THE TRUMAN SHOW. In fact, a large percentage of the script is lifted the Weir film, and those who watch these films together will undoubtedly find countless similarities. However, while THE TRUMAN SHOW prefers to run in metaphorical circles and dance with esoteric symbolism, EDTV chooses to focus on a literal message. Any larger elements are purely speculative during the picture, and only upon viewing the film straight through is there any merit to thematic criticism. Director Howard's internal message is simple and straightforward: the grass is greener on the other side.
The grass may be greener on the other side for Ed Pekurny, but certainly not for Matthew McConaughey, and this is one of the film's only shortcomings. The cast is a dynamic bunch of individuals, well chosen in sum and critical to success individually, but the themes do not befit a lot of Hollywood veterans. McConaughey is not credible in the everyman role of Ed, and he seems to play the character off the wall rather than down to earth. Most of Ed's family, including Woody Harrelson, are similarly loony, and they don't help the realism. Truly, only Jenna Elfman (TV's "Dharma and Greg") gives a standout performance as Ed's girlfriend Sheri, and the character itself as well as society's reaction to it is one of the most realistic parts of the movie.
Then again, EDTV is a fantasy product, designed to suspend reality and surround itself with "what-ifs." In this respect it's a thought- provoking product, and very much the equal of THE TRUMAN SHOW.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush
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Craig Roush
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Kinnopio's Movie Reviews
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