# The Truman Show (1998)



## padders (Mar 2, 2001)

Not quite sure how this got into a sci-fi category? well i guess perhaps it is anyway...

I loved this film, an excellent plot. Believable in a weird and wonderful way despite being rediculous. Tells us quite a lot about what we like i think (how many of these docu-soaps and real life things do people watch these days... istn't this just continuing the theme). I really like it, Jim Carey was brilliant in it me thinks, the one he deserved an Oscar for!


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## Annette (Mar 19, 2001)

Watched this film and thought how daft, but I suppose in our modern world it is possible for someone to be watched, taped and seen live all over the world. Jim Carey is a brilliant actor. He carried the role of Truman very well. 

Annette.


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## Mellian (Mar 24, 2001)

Loved this film.  

As a rule I really don't care for Jim Carey.  However he was great in this film.  

I found the concept very believable.  Especially the part with all the viewers.  That is something I can just see happening all those people watching some one else.  

Especially loved the ending and the line.
"In case I don't see you, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night."


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## Ice (Jun 22, 2001)

*Wow!*

I loved it.
Jim Carry played a very different roll, which really made the movie.
My grandmother even went to see it, and she loves it to!
~Ice~


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## Prowler-Pilot (Jun 25, 2001)

It's an awesome film, it's definatly got a wide fan base! 

TaTa


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## Curupira (Jul 24, 2001)

lol Was anybody else looking up into the sky expecting to see falling cameras for weeks? :laugh2:


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## Sinistra (Nov 9, 2001)

I loved this film first time i saw it, i was really..what's the word..intrigued. But the third time I saw it was just really boring..kinda like if you watch Groundhog day too many times in a row....see what i mean?


Sin


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## Sinistra (Nov 9, 2001)

:erm:


Err.....no.....


Sin


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## tokyogirl (Jun 12, 2002)

did anyone else notice the mistake they had when the best friend was loading the candy machine?


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## tokyogirl (Jun 12, 2002)

yeah, some movies are not meant to be watched over and over and over close together.  groundhog's day is one, this one is one, and willow is another one.


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## Dave (Mar 28, 2010)

Another film that I had yet to see for some reason, though I had meant to and wanted to. I thought that knowing something of the story beforehand would spoil it, but it wasn't really a problem as I didn't know all the details, and learning those along with Truman himself IS the story. In fact, we very quickly learn more than Truman himself anyhow.

Hmmm! I see a slight similarity with _Groundhog Day_ with the repetition, but I was much more reminded of Patrick McGoohan's _The Prisoner_ in the Kafkaesque way he is senselessly disorientated, menaced and misled, and by the surreal circumstances and scripted events that he is forced to experience.

I hate reality shows, and I hate what they have done to TV. This is so spot on the button in so many ways, even down to the TV discussion shows about the TV show itself. If _The Running Man_ is the ultimate _Gladiators_-type show this is the ultimate _Big Brother_. Even down to the 'leaving the Big Brother House' talk and catwalk, live to the whole world.

I also think Jim Carey is excellent in this, but have seen a number of his films that I didn't care for. He is also good in _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_ but the other films where he just pulls faces do nothing for me.


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## williamjm (Apr 2, 2010)

Dave said:


> I hate reality shows, and I hate what they have done to TV. This is so spot on the button in so many ways, even down to the TV discussion shows about the TV show itself. If _The Running Man_ is the ultimate _Gladiators_-type show this is the ultimate _Big Brother_. Even down to the 'leaving the Big Brother House' talk and catwalk, live to the whole world.



It is pretty impressive how accurate a depiction of reality television it is, especially considering it was made several years before Big Brother or the other similar reality TV shows were.



> I also think Jim Carey is excellent in this, but have seen a number of  his films that I didn't care for. He is also good in _Eternal Sunshine  of the Spotless Mind_ but the other films where he just pulls faces  do nothing for me.



I agree, I don't like Carrey's comedy films but I did think he was excellent in this and Eternal Sunshine.


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## Boneman (Apr 2, 2010)

But doncha think the film finished 5 minutes too soon? I wanted to see his face when he hit the big outdoors, met the girl, sued for millions...

But see Jim Carrey in the Majestic if you like his straight work....


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## museatlantis (Apr 16, 2010)

I loved the truman show its a great film.


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## Anthony G Williams (Jan 16, 2011)

Continuing with my efforts to catch up with worthwhile SFF films, I've finally seen *The Truman Show*. The plot must be well enough known by now, although I must confess I did wish whilst watching it that I hadn't had any advance notice of the basic premise, as it would have been fun discovering that for myself as the film developed. So if you really have no idea what it's about, my advice is: watch the film (it's terrific), but read no further.

The plot is mixture of a soap opera and reality TV show on the surface, but underneath is a paranoid conspiracy theory made real. Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives an apparently normal, happily married (to Laura Linney) life in an idyllic little American town set on a small island. The one quirk is that, following a childhood accident in which his father was drowned, Truman is so terrified of water that he can't even drive over it on a bridge; so he has never left the island. Despite this, he has a fantasy of travelling to Fiji to follow the girl he really fell in love with (Natascha McElhone) who had vanished abruptly from the island years before. 

The problems begin when odd events cause Truman to start to question the nature of the world he lives in. Strange incidents keep occurring, starting with a piece of equipment falling out of a clear sky. I enjoyed the way in which the headline of the next day's local paper always had a logical explanation for the events (in this case, that an aircraft in trouble had shed some equipment over the island). Despite such cover-ups, Truman gradually becomes suspicious, and feels that he is being spied on and set up. 

The truth is far worse than that; for the entire island is a movie set, and everyone on it except himself is an actor. Broadcast around the world from thousands of cameras concealed around the island, the real-time continuously-running story of Truman's life since birth has been the entire purpose of The Truman Show, and is followed by millions of devoted fans. The film gradually interleaves scenes of Truman's increasing paranoia and desperation to escape the island with those of fans watching the show, plus views of the control-room staff under the direction of Cristof  (a chillingly controlling Ed Harris) who constantly choreographs the actors to keep the show on the rails. I was reminded of the old joke: just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that they're not out to get you!

The climax of the film (and the Show) is dramatic and uplifting, a fitting end to an excellent, original and amusing production. Full marks!

(An extract from my SFF blog)


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## Steve S (Feb 28, 2011)

I think it's a wonderful film, with a stunning, multi-layered performance from Jim Carrey. Although there are many themes with the film, especially relating to the impact of technology and the media on our lives, for me the central theme is that for any individual to achieve happiness/fulfillment, it is necessary to break through the barriers of fear and doubt that we have built around ourselves. I think it is fascinating, and typical of the film's sophistication that the 'villain', Christof, although controlling of Truman, by no means wishes to harm him. He has self-interest of course, but he traps Truman in a benign prison, a gilded cage, and believes that he is acting in Truman's best interest. Only when Truman conquers his fears can he escape this safe and attractive, but ultimately unfulfilling world. It is a cliche to say that a film operates on many levels but this is definitely true of the Truman Show.


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## Rodders (Mar 1, 2011)

Agreed, this is a very enjoyable movie. I think Ed Harris stole it though.


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