TV watcher

The Truman Show

review by Orlando C. Fernando

June 7, 1998

Storyline: 8.5 (0=worst, 10=best)
Originality: 8.5
Acting: 9.5
Special Effects: 4
Overall: A- (F=worst, A=best)

Imagine you being born, raised, working, and having a wife in a perfect world - always being protected, cared for, and praised. Now imagine it being TOO perfect: never a private moment, never being able to see what's beyond your town, your habitat, your life. That's the situation that Truman (Jim Carrey) is being put into. His life is inside an artificial human biosphere on the island of Seahaven which, right from womb to tomb, is being recorded and televised all over the world. Ed Harris portrays the producer of this televised program called "The Truman Show" which gets raves and more ratings than any competing network could yearn for. All the people Truman lives and interacts with, even the physical environment, are all contrived and laiden with thousands of cameras. But what happens when a former actress who has feelings for Truman from high school tries to warn him that his life is staged? Does he take the advice seriously? Does he see the signs? Does he try to escape his "I Love Lucy" mega sponsor-based world?

Jim Carrey is bouncing back from outrageous comedy schtick to semi-serious roles. Something that he started from "Liar, Liar" but improves upon significantly. Ed Harris plays a credible producer who easily rationalizes his production motives to the press, saying words to the effect that Truman is really in a giant incubator rather than a prison - protecting him from all the harm in the real world. His mission determination pleasingly matches that of his role in "The Rock" by similarly giving us a picture of him as shades of grey rather than just pure evil.

Final words: It's hard to categorize this movie. It hovers on major overtones from George Orwell's "1984" along with loose overtones from MTV's "Real World". "Flatliners" is the closest (but still not that close) movie parallel I can draw which also dealt with non-traditional life experiences, but without the science fiction portion.

The previews are right when they say it's unlike anything you have seen before. Worth a full movie admission to see it. Just the right running time (maybe not long enough for me). It will truly leave you thinking at the end. The previews are right when they say it's unlike anything you have seen before. And the audience in your cinema seats will match the movie audience's captivation of what Truman's next move is going to be.