The Truman Show Review
by David Sunga (zookeeper AT criticzoo DOT com)June 11th, 1998
THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998)
Rating: 4.0 stars (out of 4.0)
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Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out *********************************
A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Peter Weir
Written by: Andrew Niccol
Starring: Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, and Ed Harris
Ingredients: Unsuspecting suburban guy, Hollywood director
Synopsis:
In the island town of Seahaven, insurance salesman Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is a Joe everyman who seems to have everything a typical guy could reasonably want. He lives in a sunny upper middle class suburb reminiscent of the idyllic Hollywood version of the late 1950s. He's married to a pretty nurse named Meryl (Laura Linney). He's got a blue collar beer buddy named Marlon (Noah Emmerich) whom he has supposedly been best friends with all his life.
But there are cracks in this bright, picture perfect, LEAVE IT TO BEAVER neighborhood. For example, near Truman's home, a pedestrian carrying flowers, a Volkswagon car, and a person on a bicycle are circling around the block in an infinite loop. And why, during an argument between Truman and his wife, does Meryl suddenly pick up a jar of Mocococoa chocolate and do a product placement ad? One day, from out of a clear blue sky, a big mysterious Hollywood stage light inexplicably drops and breaks as Truman is walking down the street. Truman begins to look closely at things and soon stumbles onto the fact that all is not as it seems. The result is an excellent comedy/adventure.
Will the slightly paranoid Truman want to escape the perfect and comfortable illusion of life at Seahaven?
Opinion:
When critics give a movie the highest rating of four stars, folks in my neighborhood suspect that the film is either overrated, or that someone paid off the movie critic (in order to jumpstart a stronger opening weekend for an otherwise lame film). The question is, is THE TRUMAN SHOW as good as the hype says it is?
Getting straight to the point: Yes! THE TRUMAN SHOW is well written, well cast, well performed and excellently filmed. TRUMAN is funny both in the goofy physical sense, and in terms of inside jokes and sardonic wit. As a plus, aside from being an engaging adventure, THE TRUMAN SHOW is relevant to modern issues. The film manages to be funny, touching, and meaningful at the same time.
THE TRUMAN SHOW is not a Disneyesque kids comedy (small children would probably not understand it). Rather than playing a hyperactive comedian, Jim Carrey steals the show with his performance as a sweet ordinary guy who discovers, with some comic paranoia, the ultimate fakeness of his world. To his credit (and director Peter Weir's), Carrey never hams it up or overacts. He keeps it subtle, and as a result, succeeds brilliantly. For example, Truman tries at various times to communicate with his wife; she interrupts the conversations to espouse the virtues of such items as brand name potato peelers and lawn mowers, and; he looks at her quizzically, his face slowly revealing hilarious, increasing paranoia.
For TV trivia fans, TRUMAN serves up a fun assortment of inside pop references. It throws little jibes at 101 DALMATIONS, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, the Doublemint Gum twins, and dozens of other little goodies. Even the names are rife with symbolism: Truman Burbank (true man, suburb, bank); Meryl (Blond actress); Seahaven (sea, haven). My favorite is Ed Harris playing the egotistical (he wears a little French beret) island movie director Christof. This is a parody of contemporary European artist Christo, who in 1983 surrounded some islands near Florida with 6.5 million square feet of pink polypropylene.
Finally, THE TRUMAN SHOW offers an intriguing thought. At one point Truman discovers that TV 'reality' is in fact a doctored creation. We crack jokes about an American President we've never met; we cry over a princess we've never met; we exult over the victories of a sports hero we've never met; we fume over a foreign dictator we've never met. That's the nature of our own information age reality - - a reality where carefully spun and tailored script characters and dramas are felt as keenly as life at hand, and are accepted as real and normal behavior by young children.
THE TRUMAN SHOW is a brilliant piece of writing by scriptwriter Andrew Niccol. I highly recommend this film, and it is probably no exaggeration to say that THE TRUMAN SHOW is one of the most important movies of the 1990s decade if not the century.
Reviewed Jun 5, 1998
Copyright © 1998 by David Sunga
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