The Truman Show is, unfortunately, Jim Carrey's still best dramatic role. Carrey is Truman Burbank, a seemingly mild-mannered average man, but, in reality, the unsuspecting subject of the longest running TV reality show in history. His wife, friend, and even family are all actors attempting to stop his repeated attempts to escape to Fiji reunite with his true love.
Director Peter Weir is having a lot of fun not just satirizing the media but offering some serious and prescient commentary on globalization and American fears. (In one scene, Truman visits a traveling agency that warns people of, yes, TERRORIM!) That said, the plot can only trade on Carrey's charms for so long and Truman's slow realization of being in a television show could've been delivered more realistically. Was Truman ever really tricked? Did he want to believe his phony life? This film doesn't offer any simple answers.
Especially touching is how the camera repeatedly stops and returns to the "Truman Bar," where Truman fanatics debate the latest plot point. And this is indeed the message the film has: is Christoph (Ed Harris), the villain, the one imprisoning Truman or the very audience including us addicted to story of his life? Oscar-worthy performances by both Carrey and, especially, Laura Linney, as his manipulative pseudo-wife.
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