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Remember that brief period of time when Jim Carrey was moving beyond the juvenile brand of comedy that had made his name and expanding into fairly adventurous dramatic territory? When films like The Truman Show or Man on the Moon felt like the next stage of his career, before realizing that these were just strange detours before going back to overacting and mugging for laughs? Yeah, I know it’s tough to remember this brief period of time, but it happened. And it proved that if he wanted to, Carrey could have gone the path of Robin Williams or Whoopi Goldberg and left a lasting impression on dramatic character parts.
Granted, The Truman Show is practically all surface polish, high-concept, and a great central performance from Carrey with an eccentric group of supporting players, and not too much else. But I think that it’s more than enough to recommend a cursory viewing of the film. Truman’s world is like the neighborhoods of Leave it to Beaver or Ozzie and Harriet sprawled across an entire metropolis. His world is stuck in an everything’s clean, perfect, shiny and happy 1950’s comedy. Truman’s assigned wife, Laura Linney in an early film role, describes household products as a commercial voiceover would, and seems like a walking parody of the dutiful homemaker, complete with pearls.
If I had awoken in this ideal suburbia, I’d think something suspicious was going on, but not Truman. From the time he was born, he has been the subject matter of this experiment, designed by producer Christof, Ed Harris dripping with god-like egomania and twisted paternal affection. Truman knows of no other reality, until a woman (Natascha McElhone) goes off-script, the only woman he’s ever truly been attracted to, and he begins to question his existence. The rest of the film details his experiments with trying to discover what is going on underneath the placid surfaces. This is a film which sees a man for whom every whim and development of his life has been forethought and made-to-order rebelling against those shackles, seeking a more fully human and realized life.
The Truman Show may be more in love with its concept than creating a fully realized character in Truman, but it’s still an enjoyable ride. One that feels still timely as the Real Housewives franchise makes dubious “stars” out of manufactured drama and limitedly talented people. Just because we can put anyone and anything on TV, just because we can telecast real lives, does that mean we should? I don’t know what the answers are, but I know a movie like Network raises many of the same questions and provides a more engaging experience.
