“Good morning! And in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!”
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives a ho-hum but fulfilling and moderately successful life with his wife Meryl (Laura Linney) and best friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich) on the beautiful, small island community of Seahaven. He has almost everything he could want, but unbeknownst to Truman, this is by design.
Truman Burbank is the star of his very own television show, the longest continually running one in history (broadcasting for 30 years). All of his friends and family are paid actors, and the entire town is a set. Truman’s false, curated life is certainly an idyllic one, but it can only keep him happy and for so long. A falling stage light sets Truman on a path of discovery, which upsets Christof (Ed Harris, a great villain) the creator of the program who harbors a serious God complex.
Jim Carrey is absolutely perfect as the boy-ish and endlessly optimistic Truman. He perfectly embodies the role. This is one of Carey’s more naturalistic performances. He keeps things light (but not too light). It’s not hard to see why the entire cast of The Truman Show ( that is, the show Truman stars in) as well as the entire world, has fallen in love with Truman Burbank.
Truman is immensely easy to root for and incredibly likable. It’s thrilling to watch his quest (and Carrey’s reactions can be funny at times, deeply affecting at others), and the realizations he comes to along the way are heart-breaking but also oddly liberating.
The Truman Show (the movie) is directed by Peter Weir (who also directed Dead Poets Society) and written by Andrew Nicchols (this is the best thing he’s done). Weir’s direction is on point. The film is funny when it needs to be, and heavy when moments calls for it. The performances are pretty great all around (Paul Giamatti also pops up as one of the control room operators for the show) with Carrey carrying most of the entire weight of the proceedings with ease. The script is pretty sharp and witty as well (it definitely impresses).
Shot mostly in and around the town of Seaside, Florida, the locations found in The Truman Show are beautiful. It’s tempting to be a little envious of Truman, the area he lives in is truly gorgeous. You’d be surprised to find how much of the “set”, isn’t actually a set (like the street Truman lives on, for example).
The Truman Show scratches at themes concerning capitalism, corporations, consumerism/mass consumerism, choice/free will, control, how the life of the average American has become “for sale”, the relationship between God and man, and much much more. It’s much deeper than it let’s on, and it’s smart enough not to hold your hand or guide you.
In the end, the only real complaint I have with The Truman Show is it feels like it should be longer. The final 20 minutes or so come at you fast, and it feels like we could have used a few more scenes of Truman putting the pieces together before the climax. In a way, this could be counted as a good thing. Always leave them wanting more, so they say.
When all is said and done, The Truman Show comes pretty damned close to being a perfect film. The setting is gorgeous, the actors are all well-cast and put on solid performances, the themes and story are rich and engaging (and who hasn’t ever wondered if they are starring in their own movie?), and we get a classic, lovable hero to tie it all together. The Truman Show still resonates with viewers to this day, and for good reason.
5 STARS
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