The Truman Show

1998

SF elements

Review

All his life Truman Burbank [Jim Carrey] has unknowingly been the star of a 24 hour live TV soap -- everyone else around him is an actor, everything around him is a set, only he is real. The Truman Show is the producer/director's [Ed Harris] life work. But then Truman begins to notice some strange happenings...

This film proves Jim Carrey can act, not just mug and grimace. He is excellent as he gradually begins to discover all is not as it seems, and tries to break free. The film is cleverly put together, with the innocent 50s lifestyle, Truman's actress-wife doing bizarre "product placements", events rigged to make Truman not want to leave, the bizarre "perfect town life" he lives in, the role of the moon, and the scenes of the real world, with viewers' reactions to events in the show and the "Free Truman" movement. The story has a few spooky resonances with Robert Heinlein's short story "They" , and the town where Truman lives has some uncanny parallels with The Village of The Prisoner . Clever and funny, with enough depth to bring out the solipsist in us all.

Rating: 3