The Truman Show (1998)
Director: Ron Howard Peter Weir
Had I seen this before: Yes, when it first came out
First of all, I had a very disorienting Mandela Effect situation with this movie wherein I was absolutely certain that Ron Howard directed it (Ron Howard narrator voice: "I did not") up until the end credits, which informed me that Peter Weir directed it. Master and Commander himself! Fortunately, I was able to solve this mystery very quickly by investigating Ron Howard's director credits and discovering therein Edtv. I have not actually seen Edtv, but I know that it came out one year later with a close enough premise to be confusing. I would say that my brain is thus vindicated but here is where I have to confess that my certainty that Ron Howard directed The Truman Show was immediately replaced by a certainty that the reason I was confused was that Ron Howard directed The Majestic with Jim Carrey around the same time (Ron Howard narrator voice, exhausted by me: "Also no") but it turns out that was Frank Darabont!! What a ride. Anyway, the funny thing is, I spent several scenes thinking "this doesn't seem like Ron Howard's directing style," so...there you go. That's me, a person who is almost knowledgeable about film.
It seems like there's plenty of intelligent writing about this movie being prescient about society and technology and theology and consumerism and the concept of self out there, if you're into that sort of thing, but that's not really what I do here. What I offer is a more tossed-off, surface-level analysis with some unnecessary navel-gazing about how old I was when it came out (eighteen!) and a picture of food at the end. Anyway. I liked this movie better than I expected to on re-watch. It seems like it might be the kind of movie that has a lot of famous scenes or has become a cultural concept (see: The Bucket List, for example) but maybe isn't great as an actual piece of filmmaking. But I gotta say, this thing really grabs you and doesn't let go. It probably helps that I tend to respond favorably when a movie has a built-in game that is obvious from the beginning because I have an anxious brain and I crave structure. So in this case, the game is: Truman will slowly realize things are amiss and try to escape, and the television production holding him hostage will try to prevent that from happening. That's all there is to this setup, and the movie shows its cards very early--there's not really any mystery to us, the audience, about what's going on, but I was impressed by how fun a lot of that back-and-forth was. As someone who reads and watches a lot of stuff in the horror/thriller genre I sometimes forget that knowing more than the characters do can be just as much of a thrill as trying to figure out what's happening.
I was fully prepared to give Mr. Ron Howard ("Please leave me alone") credit for making the absolute darkest movie with a PG rating that I can imagine--a truly harrowing existential crisis featuring some nauseating ethical breaches and the deepest betrayal and despair imaginable, all of which the MPAA is fine with as long as no one sees any boobs. But credit, of course, is to Weir (and also to screenwriter Andrew Niccol, since apparently Weir actually lightened it up a lot): this is really heavy stuff wearing a colorful comedy costume and the fact that it mostly works tonally is a neat trick. It also avoids seeming dated because the fictional world that Truman lives in is itself out of time--an ambiguously midcentury sitcom-style suburbia whose "perfection" provides its own menacing sheen.
Obviously the performances are crucial to making this story work. Carrey threads the needle as a man preposterously forged by a wholly unnatural environment who nevertheless has a real, vulnerable human soul on the inside. Laura Linney is so funny and maddening as the actress playing his wife who must not only keep Truman in-bounds but also constantly shill various commercial products to the invisible cameras all around her. The running gag of Noah Emmerich's character always showing up with a six pack of beer really got me and was also the hardest joke to explain to my 12-year-old, who does not have the depth of sitcom knowledge necessary to translate that character. Natascha McElhone has what I'm going to call a...confusing accent but a great face, and the great face reacting silently to what Truman is doing on screen is key. And it goes without saying that Ed Harris is believably terrifying. It is known.
Line I repeated quietly to myself Road sign I read out loud just like I do in real life: "Forest Fires, Extreme Danger"
Is it under two hours: Yes
In conclusion: This is a fun movie that goes down easy but can also really mess you up the second you think about any of the implications of the premise for more than a minute. A precarious achievement!
Classic Macaroni Salad from Foodie Crush and Starbucks Hot Cocoa mix Mococoa, all-natural cocoa beans from the upper slopes of Mount Nicaragua--no artificial sweeteners!
At one point Laura Linney's character comes downstairs to interrupt Truman in his search for answers about his father and his past, and when he irritatedly asks her what she needs she offers, "I made macaroni!" Frankly? A perfect response to someone who wants you to go away.
Ergo, I made macaroni!
All I will say about this version of macaroni salad is that it seems like it would fit in very well in Seahaven.
Up next: Same bat time, same bat channel
