The Majestic Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)February 11th, 2002
The Majestic (2001)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"I'm just a guy trying to figure things out."
Starring Jim Carrey, Martin Landau, Laurie Holden, Allen Garfield, Amanda Detmer, Bob Balaban. Directed by Frank Darabont. Rated PG.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I used to say that I would watch anything with Jim Carrey. Then I saw The Majestic.
To be fair, little of this debacle can actually be blamed on Carrey, who does a valiant job with a screenplay that could have been written by a brain-damaged marsupial. We can, however, fault director Frank Darabont, who worked effectively with uncynical sentimentality in his two notorious Stephen King prison dramas, and has now gone completely "Capra-esque" (his words). At least The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile dealt in extraordinary, larger-than-life situations, ones in which the characters could be forgiven for breaking into maudlin monologues and making dramatic statements. Here, it's just melodrama, and poorly done melodrama to boot.
The movie, which runs two and a half hours despite not having 90-minutes of solid material, begins in 1951 with Carrey as Peter Appleton, a B-movie screenwriter who has finally written a script that could go all the way. After sitting through an abusive discussion with studio executives who want to mangle his work beyond recognition, and after finding out that he has been blacklisted, Appleton, distraught, goes to a bar and, upon leaving, drives his car off a bridge. He finds himself washed up on the beach of a small seaside town and can't remember who he is.
In town, he looks familiar to everyone, though no one can put his finger on it. Then old Harry Trimble (Martin Landau) realizes why: this stranger is Luke Trimble, his son, and one of the boys the town thought it had lost to the war. Everyone goes crazy. People throw "Welcome back, Luke!" parties. Luke's old girlfriend Adele (Laurie Holden) wants to reunite. And, as the climax of the festivities, Harry decides to reopen the town's old movie theater, The Majestic.
The Majestic is in the strange situation of having a seeming overabundance of plot, but really having none at all. Admittedly, it is all over the place -- a romantic comedy, a mournful drama, a political parable with a First Amendment message -- but none of these story elements are a) worthy of a movie alone or in collaboration or b) done well. The romance is cookie-cutter through-and-through, predictable and too inhibited to be sweet. Darabont sugarcoats the town's underlying grief, turning what could have been an appropriately poignant plotline into nothing much at all.
Oh, and then there's the movie's "politics." With about a half-hour left to go, The Majestic suddenly and inexplicably does a complete volte-face and goes back to Washington, where the newly-recovered Appleton has to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee. It's really a remarkable thing to watch: a film about a guy searching for his identity suddenly comes out of nowhere with an America-rah-rah message. Even Capra didn't go to such extremes.
Jim Carrey is one of my very favorite actors, and to watch him here is a ceaselessly depressing experience. He's still charming, yes, still funny and still a pleasure to watch even as the movie collapses around him. But my god, he deserves better than this. One would think that after The Truman Show, my favorite film of the 90's, Carrey would be free (or freer) to take risks, take on obscure and challenging projects and stay away from tripe that exploits his appeal as a "serious" actor.
Not even the most naive viewers will fall for this. The Majestic wants to hit every single emotional chord and hits none of them. It's not that the film is "manipulative" -- most great films toy with your feelings to some extent -- it's that it doesn't know how to be manipulative, even though the director and star are obviously experts at the craft. It's majestic, all right, like a tire fire.
Grade: D+
Up Next: The Shipping News
©2002 Eugene Novikov
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
