News
Books
Writing
Hobbies
Gallery
Links
Email Brian
Email Kerri

Unless otherwise noted,
all material on Heromaker.net
is written by Brian Murphy
© 2006.

Review Archive
  • A.I.

  • America's Sweethearts

  • American Pie 2

  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire

  • Beautiful Mind, A

  • Billy Elliot

  • Blade II

  • Blade: Trinity

  • Boondock Saints, The

  • Bourne Identity, The

  • Brazil

  • Bridge Too Far, A

  • Brotherhood of the Wolf

  • Bubble Boy

  • CQ

  • Casino

  • Cast Away

  • Cool Hand Luke

  • Count of Monte Cristo, The

  • Daredevil

  • Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo

  • Die Another Day

  • Dish, The

  • Dog Soldiers

  • Don't Say a Word

  • Donnie Darko

  • Election

  • Fearless

  • Finding Forrester

  • Flatliners

  • Frighteners, The

  • Full Frontal

  • Gangs of New York

  • Garuda

  • Godfather Trilogy, The

  • Gosford Park

  • Hard Target

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

  • Heist

  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas

  • How to Marry a Millionaire

  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

  • Insider, The

  • Jurassic Park III

  • Kill Bill: Vol. 1

  • Ladyhawke

  • Last Castle, The

  • Legally Blonde

  • Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, The

  • Life as a House

  • Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The

  • Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The

  • Lost Highway

  • Made

  • Magnificent Seven, The

  • Manhunter

  • Memento

  • Minority Report

  • Miss Congeniality

  • Moulin Rouge!

  • No Retreat, No Surrender

  • Not Another Teen Movie

  • O Brother, Where Art Thou?

  • Ocean's Eleven

  • Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior

  • Others, The

  • Pollack

  • Punisher, The

  • Queen of the Damned

  • Rat Race

  • Recruit, The

  • Reservoir Dogs

  • Ring, The

  • Royal Tenenbaums, The

  • Score, The

  • Seven Year Itch, The

  • Shadow of the Vampire

  • Signs

  • Six Degrees of Separation

  • Some Like It Hot

  • Species

  • Spider-Man

  • Spy Game

  • Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones

  • Stepford Wives, The

  • Swordfish

  • Training Day

  • Transformers: The Movie

  • Transporter, The

  • Tron

  • Troy

  • Truman Show, The

  • Unbreakable

  • Verdict, The

  • Windtalkers

  • Wonderboys

  • X-Files: Fight the Future, The

  • X-Men

    		•

    FILMS

    The Truman Show (1998)
  • Starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone

  • Directed by Peter Weir

    • Before the Wednesday night juggernaut Survivor caught the public eye and made headlines every morning, and before Big Brother invaded your home with is snooping cameras and cheap melodrama, there was something better. A fictional reality show. And yes, even though it sounds like an oxymoron, that does make perfect sense.

    The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir (Fearless, Dead Poets Society, The Mosquito Coast, Witness, Gallipoli), stars Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank. Truman lives an idyllic and simple life in a pleasant seaside town, working as an insurance salesman. What he doesn't know is that his entire life is a highly rated television reality/voyeur show and that he's been on camera non-stop since birth. At the center of the controversial show is the creator, director, artist, and God-figure Christof (played by Ed Harris) who orchestrates every aspect of Truman's life.

    When Truman eventually discovers that he is being manipulated by actors—people whom he believed were his friends and family—he is forced to make a critical decision. Will he give up his personal Real World for the real world, in effect canceling The Truman Show?

    (Originally published in Satellite Orbit magazine, September 2000.)

    Addendum: I find myself going back and forth on Jim Carrey movies. I think he does some hysterical comedies, and then sometimes he's just dumb. Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey can get fairly tedious. And then a movie like this comes out. He's actually playing a character and he surprises you with acting ability. This guy is so much more talented than his usual goofball idiot schtick. I wish he would do movies like this more often. If he balanced movies like Truman Show with movies like Liar, Liar or Ace Ventura, I'd be much happier.

    Of course, right now you're probably saying, "It's always gotta be about you, eh Murph?"

    And to that, I have nothing to say, but, "Damn straight."