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A studio lamp suddenly falls out of the sky in front of his house. A homeless man resembling his late father (Brian Delate), who supposedly drowned in a boating accident when Truman was a child, tries to make contact but is forcibly removed from the 'set'. Truman's car radio picks up the communications traffic between the 'backstage' people. Despite the attempts of his friends and family to convince him that he is just imagining things, Truman decides that he wants to follow his secret yearning for traveling to Fiji. However, he finds his efforts to leave Seahaven blocked at every turn by mysterious mechanical difficulties, natural disasters, and sudden traffic jams, all placed in his way by the mysterious God-like producer of the show, a man appropriately named Christof (Ed Harris of "Apollo 13").If you can suspend the disbelief of millions of viewers being able to sustain interest in a television show that covers every single moment of Truman's life (no matter how boring it gets), and the ability of Christof to keep him in the dark for so long, then you will find yourself enchanted by this wondrous Capra-esque fantasy. Despite the plot which has been done before (most notably on television series "The Twilight Zone" and "The Prisoner"), "The Truman Show" manages to surprise and delight. The clever screenplay by "Gattaca" scripter Andrew Niccol plays up on the inherent phoniness of televised drama with a very sly and subversive sense of humor. The script is also engaging in its emotional dynamic of Truman having his world unraveled around him, and choosing between risking his own life for freedom, or to stay content in the world's most comfortable prison. However, unlike the bloated "Godzilla", "The Truman Show" ends too quickly without giving a chance to thoroughly explore the
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In this latest pic, Carrey is very much the James-Stewart-kind-of-Everyman. However, this strong performance has stiff competition from Harris, whose character must do everything in his power to prevent Truman from leaving the show-- a task which he finds difficult, since he has watched the star of his show grow up from infancy, creating a somewhat fatherly attachment. Noah Emmerich, who plays Truman's best friend and confidante, also gives a memorable performance as a man whose motivations seem ambiguous-- in his conversations with Truman, it is debatable whether the emotion he displays is genuine (being cast as Truman's best buddy, he has spent over twenty years of his life growing up with Truman) or scripted. Finally, Natascha McElhone is captivating as a lively pillar of strength in the real world that battles for Truman's
In this latest pic, Carrey is very much the James-Stewart-kind-of-Everyman. However, this strong performance has stiff competition from Harris, whose character must do everything in his power to prevent Truman from leaving the show-- a task which he finds difficult, since he has watched the star of his show grow up from infancy, creating a somewhat fatherly attachment. Noah Emmerich, who plays Truman's best friend and confidante, also gives a memorable performance as a man whose motivations seem ambiguous-- in his conversations with Truman, it is debatable whether the emotion he displays is genuine (being cast as Truman's best buddy, he has spent over twenty years of his life growing up with Truman) or scripted. Finally, Natascha McElhone is captivating as a lively pillar of strength in the real world that battles for Truman's