Review – The Truman Show

This has got to be every child’s favorite paranoid fantasy: the whole world is nothing but a big TV studio, and everyone besides him or her is an actor in some kind of gigantic, sick experiment. Further, it looks like Jim Carrey’s using this bit of Peter Weirdness to make a bid for the ranks of serious actors. I guess this is supposed to be some kind of profound commentary on the pervasiveness of television, though frankly you can turn on the real television just about any time of day and find programming that makes even 24/7 coverage of a hapless if unwitting subject seem innocent by comparison. That notwithstanding, parts of the movie do come off as at least a little clever. Further, Weir should get some major points just for getting Jim Carrey to drop his ridiculous mugging and contortions, however briefly. Oh, and a quick side-note to soundtrack composer Phillip Glass: don’t think nobody noticed that you lifted a big chunk of the score for this one from the work you did on Mishima. Mildly amusing