The Truman Show

A lot of hype has been going on about this film – stories of hidden cameras recording everything from nannies and babysitters, to convenience stores and banks; Traffic lights and intersections to police chases. And who knows how many of your kinky neighbors have camcorders trained on you right now. For the more exhibitionist people, there’s always the Internet to broadcast their lives on. But like I said, you’ve heard all that already, you’re hear to here about The Truman Show

(note: I was yelling at the kids running the concession stand to have the projectionist fix the film alignment, so missed some of what happened at the beginning -- it dealt with the behind the scenes stuff of the show the movie was named after -- sorry)

When I came in, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) was getting ready to go to work, when out of the clear blue sky, a light fixture comes crashing down -- scaring everyone silly. Truman picks up the light and reads the name of a constellation on the side. As he's driving to work the announcer mentions a passing plane losing a light, and gee isn't air travel spectacularly dangerous. Truman is an insurance agent, married to Meryl (Laura Linney) a nurse at the local hospital. His best friend is Marlon (Noah Emmerich) who delivers snack foods to convenience stores. He grew up in the town of Seahaven (which is an actual town -- a planned community that was featured during one of Bob Vila's Home Again series --the one in Florida I believe, and the Hometime series as well). Except of course that this is all a TV show. Seahaven is the world's biggest sound stage (the only man made object visible from orbit other than the Great Wall of China). His wife and best friends are both actors. So is everyone he comes into contact with. Truman just doesn't know it. He was the first child ever adopted by a corporation, and his entire life has been broadcast -- 24/7 -- to the rest of the world, all thanks to the vision of Christof (Ed Harris). The program has been running for quite a while though, and lately things have been going awry -- the falling light for example. Then, on the way to work, Truman's car radio starts picking up the radios used to direct the action, and he hears them saying everything he's doing. He sees his father -- who was drowned when he was a boy -- only to have him whisked away. He unexpectedly goes into an office building and sees an elevator open onto an access hallway instead of an elevator car. None of this bodes well for the world's longest running and most popular show ever. In fact, the biggest threat to the program has always been Truman finding out. Truman's father was written out during a boating accident, in order to instill a paralyzing fear of water into him: he can't cross it, and he lives on an island. As all these things start happening, Truman's longing for a girl, Lauren / Sylvia (Natascha McElhone), he once met (she was an extra who caught his eye, and when he started going outside of the script, she was whisked away) becomes more intense. He goes to a travel agent (with posters of airline disasters on the wall) to get a plane ticket to Fiji (where the girl supposedly lives), she says there's not a flight until next year. He gets a bus ticket -- but the driver is an actor who doesn't have the first clue about driving a bus -- oops, it's broken down, sorry. He finally flips out with his 'wife' in the car, and tries to make a break for it, only to continuously encounter traffic jams. He outsmarts them though, and makes it to the bridge -- but he's too scared -- so he points the car at the other end, closes his eyes and floors it. Meryl screams, but they make it across -- he's on the mainland!! Then they drive right into an accident at the nuclear power plant, where he gets collected up, and sent back home. Meryl completely wigs out, Marlon comes to save the situation -- Truman's dad is alive, but he suffered from amnesia (a true television plotline) -- Truman meets an attractive new employee at work, not realizing she been added to take the place of his soon to depart wife. It's during his depression after her loss that he escapes the cameras and take a boat out on the ocean. They locate him, and Christof orders a storm to scare him back. It doesn't work -- he tells them to try to kill him. It still doesn't work. Truman finally sails into the wall of the soundstage, where he gets out of the boat and finds a door. Christof, for the first time, talks to Truman, trying to get him to stay. Truman listens, looks into the sky and says his line -- Good Morning, and in case I don't see you later, Good Afternoon and Good evening too. Lauren, who is a member of the Free Truman group, was watching this (along with the world), dashes out of her apartment, to find the man who's loved her all those years.

Perhaps the most important observation I can make about this film is that it isn’t really a comedy. Oh sure, it has it’s moments – but in the whole – it’s a drama, and a very good one at that. This film will do for Jim Carrey what Twins did for Ahnuld Schwarzenneger, and Dead Poets Society did for Robin Williams. The big question is – will he get an Oscar nomination for this film? Quite possibly, he gave a very good performance. Will he win? Not likely, though Ed Harris might have a chance at a supporting Oscar. This is a very good film – but not a terribly funny one. Go see it anyway.