Review of The Truman Show (1998) by Cj W — 27 Jun 2013

The Truman Show is a brilliant satire about the dangers of reality television and the total disregard for human life and happiness that we have as we seek entertainment. The film is so prophetic in its deliverance of the message, it is honestly one of the most original scripts in cinema history, but it really makes you understand the lengths we will go through to get our entertainment and the idiocy of that entertainment.

Andrew Niccol wrote the screenplay, whose first film, Gattaca, is one of the most well written and original science-fiction films of all time, really makes this a hilarious, but intelligent study of our modes of entertainment.

Jim Carrey gives his greatest performance as the naive and somewhat neurotic Truman, he makes the role seem natural and fluid, as if he is just rolling with everything and discovering it with us. But as for Peter Weir, this film is so much different from the rest of his work, he creates a very different tone and atmosphere to this film.

It works very well though, and it may be his best work, its right up there with Witness, but the only film of his I could compare this to would be Fearless. His work with fantastic elements in Fearless are somewhat apparent in The Truman Show, but for the most part he makes radical change in directorial style.

Overall, this film is a masterpiece, and essential viewing.