The Truman show, for those uninitiated, is a film about a bubbling and charismatic man named Truman (go figure) played by funny face Jim Carrey, who is unknowingly living his whole adult life inside a fabrication crafted as a TV show for a global audience. And whence the reality comes crashing in on him, he is left on edge, wondering how long his life has remained a lie and who all was in on this elaborate charade. It is existentialist, chaotic and a wildly creative concept and the performances from Jim Carrey are a stand out, making it an undoubtably fun and memorable experience. And speaks to consumerism and lack of morality that could arise with sheer creative freedom.

My biggest gripe with this film, and something that I will just have to get around to properly enjoy it, is the general premise of the screenplay itself. Not even mentioning the fact, that this unlawful invasion of privacy and literal imprisonment would typically raise a lot of very moral and ethical concerns surrounding the show. Which just does not seem to happen with exception to like... one singular character. But I suppose that is the point of the movie. The masses are so hung up on the drama and Truman's story, that the actual logistics of Truman's creation into this pseudo reality does not come into question. Because they do not treat Truman as a human being, but an entertainment prop to tune into on a casual Saturday night. And is sadly reflective of many current consumerist fads and items, even down to the clothes we wear or shows we watch.

No, no, no, the biggest sense of disbelief surrounding the show is simply the fact, that it even has an audience. Because when I really, really think about it, I just end up asking myself this question: who would watch this shit? Like beyond the novelty of the show being filmed literally at the beginning of Truman's head exiting his mother's vagina and then following his adolescence, I could not imagine something more mundane and asinine than watching someone fail to grow up 24/7. Sure, I can enjoy a cheeky slice of life flick or a romance comedy or some other coming of age story. But I will not watch literal decades worth of that shit. I can hardly sit through a twitch live stream without my poor dopamine receptors threatening to kill themselves.

Maybe this premise would work more convincingly with a more interesting life path to follow. Like idk Truman being raised in a fucking warzone or something. But the Truman Show in actuality is just us following the life of a suburban white man bumbling in the same neighborhood for 30 odd years. And no bts manipulation of Truman's fake life would make the premise seem any less boring from an in-universe perspective. Yet somehow Truman is the most watched person on earth? The most successful TV show ever?? What??? How did that happen? Who is keeping attention to Truman learning about gooning in Season 15? Are they playing Subway Surfers in the background? Martin Scorcese wishes he could drag a 90 minute long narrative to as big a stretch of time as the creators of that show did.

What I am essentially getting at is this; you can kidnap as many children at birth, stick them in a nightmarish dome and force them to metaphorically dance to a worldwide audience as you damn well please. I am cool with that. We should do that more. But at least make the premise something more interesting than Truman's development of getting a 9-5. Because I do not care how bored people get or how much "slop" gets consumed on average on TV, I refuse to believe people would genuinely go out of their way to watch this until midnight and then wake up to watch it all over again.

That's all. Have a good day.

And in case I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.

im gonna show it to one of my friends but i dont know if theyre supposed to know hes in a tv show.now im thinking about it, at the start they have the actors talking about being in the show and in the poster it obviously shows whats happening, and you could probably even tell from the title. should i put in the effort to prevent them from knowing or should i tell them to intise them.

Jim Carrey puts it all on the line here. He has his classic goofiness, but he’s also vulnerable, emotional, real, and conflicted. The pacing from start to finish is perfect and it does not taper, culminating to an epic finale that should have EVERYONE in tears of joy, sadness, and relief.

The Truman Show manages to accomplish full character development in less than two hours, while most tv shows take entire seasons to flesh somebody out. It’s such a rare occurrence to be this thoroughly invested in a character in such a short amount of time, as his world begins to literally crumble around him. Truly a remarkable film!

My only regret is that I can’t watch it for the first time ever again.

Edit: I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels so strongly about this film. Thank you to all who have commented, I love having movie discussions!

I understand they could only do so much. This was a mainstream film that was focused more on entertainment. It's one of those movies though I am left wanting more. Something more experimental and more risky taking, but then again that was not the movie they were trying to make. It feels like straight out of something with Black Mirror in the modern era.

Here's some of the dark undertones I noticed that they could have went if this was a less mainstream film.

- Christof's obsession with Truman is very creepy and the film does a good job highlighting that, but it's also very sexual.

- Truman's turn into madness is played for laughs with Carrey, but it's also very violent.

- The obsession the cast members have with Truman is almost cult like. It's not a role for them, it's a lifestyle. Creepy.

A rated R version of this film would have been amazing.