Rent The Truman Show (1998)

Excellent ! - The Truman Show review by RP

In 2013 we're accustomed to reality TV shows and unfortunately also accustomed (although we don't like it) to living in a 'surveillance society'. Yet back in 1998 when 'The Truman Show' was made such things were unheard of; the TV show 'Big Brother' was first broadcast in The Netherlands in 1999 and the concept of 'Big Brother' in the 1994 sense was something to be very scared of, and perhaps still is.

So the premise of 'The Truman Show' was in its day a science fiction fantasy, an uncomfortably close look at the manipulative nature of a future media world and its potential for cynical exploitation - yet here we are 15 years later where real world events may be approaching that futuristic fantasy.

Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank who was born and has lived his entire life within a closed world, a giant TV studio, surrounded by actors - and he believes that this world is real. He is unaware that all around is false and that his entire life and personal relationships have been manipulated and that he is watched by 5000 cameras 24 hours a day - until he begins to suspect and tries to escape. The creator / producer / director of this fantasy world, Christof, is well played by Ed Harris in a stand-out role for which he was BAFTA and Oscar nominated.

At that point in his career Jim Carrey was known for his manic comic acting talent - and here he shows a mature dramatic acting ability. Both he and Ed Harris, neither of them obvious choices for the roles, are excellent. The director is Peter Weir, known for 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', 'Witness', 'Dead Poets Society' et al and the combination of an excellent director, an excellent script and excellent acting talent created an excellent film - one of my favourites.

I find 'The Truman Show' quite scary - it's not a future that I want to see nor do I want to see a world where millions of viewers are glued to reality TV. I felt sorry for Truman cocooned and imprisoned within his too-perfect, too-clean, too-white, smalltown USA seaside town - and while the ending is (of course!) too Hollywood, I was very pleased for him and pleased that he had, at last, got one over on baddy Christof.

Excellent - 5/5 stars - highly recommended.

In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night! - The Truman Show review by CP Customer

The Truman Show is that rare thing - a brilliant, original idea made into a compelling, funny and touching film. I was not a Jim Carrey fan before seeing this film but he is very good in the lead role, and is well supported by the whole cast. Definitely worth watching.

A satirical allegorical tale that is totally unique and remarkable - The Truman Show review by Philip in Paradiso

Truman Burbank (Jim Carey) is married to platinum blonde Meryl (Laura Linney). He works in insurance (he enjoys his office job) and has the perfect life of a married man in American suburbia. Truman, however, is not aware of the fact that his life is entirely fake, i.e. that it is part of a reality-TV show. Everybody knows, including his wife and his best friend, but he doesn't. Truman - the result of an unwanted pregnancy - was selected at birth and legally adopted by the TV studio: he is the unsuspecting star of the immensely successful Truman Show. The reality-TV programme is broadcast across the world, 24/7, through hundreds of hidden cameras. Truman's hometown, Seahaven Island, is set inside an enormous, artificial dome. The show's executive producers, based in Los Angeles, control virtually every aspect of Truman's life.

The film is an interesting mixture of genres. It is a comedy in some respects (some moments are hilarious: the TV programme is funded by product-placement adverts inserted in the narrative); it is also a sentimental drama as well as a social drama; and there is an element of science-fiction about the story too. Ultimately, however, it is an allegory about the modern Western world, which is, at heart, a punitive and powerful satire. Small-town America, consumerism and the TV industry are some of the topics satirized very effectively in the movie. The storyline is remarkably prescient: the film was made in 1998, before the internet had taken hold, and before 'reality TV' - with shows such as 'Big Brother' or 'Love Island' - had taken off.

The acting is absolutely perfect. J Carey's performance, as Truman, who is the story's (and the TV show's) central character, is extremely impressive. But all the other actors are very good too. More particularly, L Linney is totally plausible as the 1950s-style incarnation of the perfect American wife. The movie can be read on many levels. There is the issue of agency: is Truman free to leave his artificial paradise, and would he want to if he knew what it really is? As interesting, or more, is of course the issue of truth Vs appearances. In the film, everybody plays a part - except Truman, although his behaviour appears highly conditioned too - but isn't the Truman Show a reflexion of what (real) life is, much of the time? Don't we perform for those around us, in order to please them and to conceal our weaknesses? Certainly, in work situations, this tends to apply. And, with the advent of the internet and social media, the entire world has become a huge stage for a globalized Truman Show that most people appear very happy to take part in.

This film is quite unique and is truly excellent in every respect: it is a masterpiece and a must-see. One last detail that is astonishing and revealing: although the town where Truman lives and works does look like a completely artificial set - some kind of Disney-like caricature of American suburbia - it actually is, unbelievably, a real town that does exist and looks exactly as it does in the movie. The town is called Seaside and is located in Florida. (See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaside,_Florida) This is the ultimate and ironic blurring of reality-TV, fiction and actual reality. To get further information, you can watch the extras, on the DVD, which explain how the film was shot, and so on.