Movie Details
| Title: | The Truman Show | |
| Director: | Peter Weir | |
| Year: | 1998 | |
| Genre: | Drama | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 09.01.07 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- The Last Wave
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 09.01.07 | Borrowed | A while ago my offhanded remark that I preferred EdTV over Truman Show made a friend very upset, so out of fairness to him I thought I'd give this another shot. It's not that I thought they were directly comparable films, but I did think that, given the similarities in theme and subject matter, EdTV handled it a little better since I found McConaughey's performance to be endearing (which is crazy. I hated him up till then (except Dazed of course) and the comedy elements lightened it up. I just thought that it worked better as a comedy with dramatic elements rather than a drama with comedic elements which is what Truman Show is. Well, after seeing it again, I'm willing to give up a few grudges. One of my main problems with buying into the conceit when the film came out is that this perfectly created world worked with 0 problems for 3 years then in a week everything goes to shit. Is the bank right next to where he works really still a false front after 30 years? Would the actress playing his wife since college really break character under just a little pressure? I didn't buy it. Watching again... I can see how time may be elapsed a little bit more and I just didn't catch it 9 years ago. And although I still don't buy that the wife is such a bad actress, I like how they have to explain Truman's world when an actor quits the show or whatever. Actually that's the part of the movie that I like the most; the travel agent still having her make-up kleenex on and his best friend going out of town for the summer and things like that. Plus the whole style of covering the movie like they're in-show camera angles... makes the first half of the movie pretty enjoyable for me. But I still don't like the second half that much, mainly because I feel it's a wasted opportunity. The shot where his sailboat breaks through the wall aside, I hate the whole end sequence where they throw a storm at him then Ed Harris talks to him like god and blah blah blah plus the ending's really really weak. I want to see him experiencing the real world and getting harangued by his legion of fans and learning about the real world. Maybe then, once he's seen the difference, Ed Harris' plea to stay in his world where he's safe has more resonance. who knows. In general though, as soon as the movie pulls out of the tv show and starts in on the show workers and all that, it loses momentum. I still don't hate it... I don't think it's a "bad movie" but I also still prefer EdTV. Perhaps to aimed for higher and failed is more noble than to accomplish a lower feat but... the Ron Howard comedy done well comes off as a better movie to me than the thematically-charged moral question and somehow allegory that is this movie. |
