Film Review
If you
loved The Truman Show then you should enjoy this film. Although
it is less complex and less thought-provoking than its predecessor,
it provides a plot that realistically, and comically, presents the
nature of fame and the extent to which the media influences modern
life and attitudes. Ed (Matthew McConaughey) is an ordinary nice guy, working as a clerk in a video store. He likes Burt Reynolds movies, having a good time and, like any other good guy, values his friends and family. However, his life is transformed when he wins a competition which shoots him into the public eye as the subject of a twenty-four hour TV show, the brain child of demoralised TV executive Cynthia ( Ellen Degeneres). Suddenly, Eds a TV star, mobbed by screaming girls everywhere he goes, and subject to the seductive tactics of the sultry Jill (Liz Hurley). His jealous brother, Ray (Woody Harrelson) is, well, jealous, while his parents are confused and his girlfriend (Jenna Elfman) is unfairly rejected by the viewing public for being too normal. Ed faces the old choice between wealth and stardom or boring but satisfying reality. Can he turn off the TV? In a film
depicting a film following someones real life, McConaughey is very
effective. He comes across as an ordinary guy, at first enamoured
with his new-found fame, then genuinely bewildered by the chaos erupting
around him. Picked by the fictional network for his wacky
personality and good, but rugged looks, his personality does come
across as charismatic and funny. His roguish charm is both endearing
and hilarious, and the delight he shows when cutting his toenails
on TV indicates that he is really enjoying himself. Elfman as his
girlfriend conveys the same sense of a warm, genuine personality coming
through the multi-layers of precarious reality. Meanwhile Jill (Elizabeth
Hurley) is brilliantly shallow as the model hired to add a star element
to events, and gives a glamourous contribution to a cast that is already
colourful. All the characters are fully-developed and well fleshed-out,
so that we feel we know them as intimately as the TV audience in the
film thinks it does. This film combines deft social satire with intelligent humour. Turn off that TV and go see it!
Jane Labous 01 / 08 / 1999 |