Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2799 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The whole world is watching--literally--every time Truman Burbank makes the slightest move. Unbeknownst to him, in this hauntingly funny film by Peter Weir, his entire life has been an unending soap opera for consumption by the rest of the world. And everyone he knows--including his mother, his wife, and his best friend--is really an actor, paid to be part of his life. In this intriguing and surprisingly touching 1998 film, writer Andrew Niccol imagines an ultimate kind of celebrity, then sees it brought to life with comic intensity and emotional honesty by Jim Carrey in what may be the performance of his career. Carrey has exceptional support from Laura Linney and Ed Harris, but it's his show, in a portrayal that demonstrates just what kind of range Carrey is capable of. --Marshall Fine

From The New Yorker
Peter Weir's new movie, his first since the perplexing "Fearless," is an even rarer creature: the sunlit black comedy. Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a genial insurance agent who lives with his chronically nice wife, Meryl (Laura Linney), in the town of Seahaven. The place itself is drowning in pleasantness-no surprise, for it is in fact the largest set ever built. The sky is a dome, the sun and moon are lights in the roof, and every single citizen is an actor-everyone except Truman, who is the innocent star of the most successful documentary soap opera of all time. It's a startling conceit, dreamed up by screenwriter Andrew Niccol, but the picture's doomy warning-that television will overrun our lives and brains-is not exactly original. Still, it picks up pace in the second half, as the hero discovers his predicament and flees; up above, trying to control him, is the omnipotent Christof-the creator of the show, and a great role for the solid and scary Ed Harris. Carrey is on his mettle, but you wonder why thirty years of close observation have made Truman so funny; shouldn't he be a regular guy gone mad? -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

My kind of reality show...
The concept behind `The Truman Show' is more pertinent to us today than it was when the film was released. Sure, the idea of television controlling the world is not a new one, but in a world where every new television program is another take at the reality genre it becomes more and more probable that an event such as this one may one day take place. The opening words by the shows creator say it all:

"We've become bored with watching actors give us phony emotions. We are tired of pyrotechnics and special effects."

With that said, `The Truman Show' begins. The film tells the story of Truman Burbank, the only non-actor in a world filled with actors. He is married to an actress; his best friend is an actor; his high school teachers and current employer and seriously everyone around him, from his mother to his late father to the person that happens to walk by his house at precisely the same moment every morning. The thing is, Truman doesn't know this. He actually thinks that his life is legit, but what he doesn't comprehend is the fact that everyone in the known universe is watching his every move being projected onto their living room television set.

Yes, Truman is the star of his own reality show; a reality show he is unaware exists.

I remember watching this film when it was first released and I was merely thirteen and I felt that the film was boring and unentertaining. Because of the misinterpretation I stayed far away from this film for years, only recently entertaining the notion of watching it once again. My feelings the second time around are vastly different. `The Truman Show' is a marvelous study of the effect that television and the media in general has on each and every individual, and the damage it can do to ones psyche.

The acting here is beyond good, especially when in regards to the star of the whole show; Jim Carrey. Many have said that this is a career best for Carrey, and I think I may have to agree (although he was beyond superb in `Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' as well). He brilliantly captures Truman's naivety and his destructive curiosity once he starts to put the pieces together. Laura Linney is wonderful as Truman's wife Meryl, contrasting her faux perfection with her genuine dissatisfaction with her actorly existence. I was not entirely blown away by Ed Harris (the only Oscar nominated performance in the bunch) for I felt that his performance was not a very difficult one. He pulls it off, sure, but there wasn't much to pull off here. Supporting players like Natascha McElhone and Noah Emmerich are also wonderfully complete and add layers to each and every scene.

What I love so much about `The Truman Show' is that it stays true to the concept in every aspect of the film. There are product placements throughout the entire film, and they pop up in the most ridiculous manner, which adds light to the idea that television is steadily controlling our every thought and action. The script is brilliantly fleshed out, creating real characters with real problems and real concerns. Weir's direction is amazing, visually captivating from start to finish by using techniques (with camera angles and placement) that create an air of reality within this faux reality.

This is what makes television worth watching.

Unusual theme
I like this movie alot; I like Jim Carrey as a serious actor and as a semiserious one. He is an incredible actor. The story gives one pause to consider what if my life had been entirely staged, scripted, and was on display 24 hours a day. Yikes!

ABSOLUTELY BEYOND OUTSTANDING
For me to give a 5-star rating to any Jim Carrey movie, before I saw this 1, I'd say you'd see the sun rise in the west first; or see Bush become a Christian!
Very very small-the ending, kind of leaves 1 hanging; especially with Natascha's character when she rejoices over Carrey's choice and throws on her coat and runs out the door, where's she going? To him?
But for what the movie is and attempts to accomplish, BRAVO x 1000. To qualify, for people who are not into a surreal brand of movie, without question, avoid this one!
Ed Harris' character Christof? Like Carrey's, bravo! A little malevolent, at the end when he tells Truman to choose to stay; is it love, or control? Masterfully played! And Laura Linney, always outstanding. Natascha McElhone? First roll I've seen her in but, as with Harris and Carrey, very poignantly played!

Some of the philosophical questions attacked, interestingly enough, are issues, and choices, America is contending with today.
What is it we're seeking? security, with the known and totally controlled, or the adventure of the unknown, freedom, and exploration?
How do we define sickness? completely controlling a human being's life for ratings, or the rest of the world itself gone completely mad with rising crime and a government we don't seem to be able to control any more, and an apathetic spirit which chooses to just disengage?
Is it sick/wrong for the network or corporation or whomever it is to claim ownership over Truman, in an obvious capacity, when in a more invidious one we delusionally call ourselves free today at the same time government has virtually reduced us to slaves?
What is it Goethe says, "None are more easily enslaved than those who call their slavery freedom"? Truman's mistake-discovering the game; when are we? If you like movies like "V For Vendetta" you'll like this 1 too.
A++++++