Starring Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Holland Taylor, Natascha McElhone, Noah Emmerich, Peter Krause
Written By: Andrew Niccol
Directed By: Peter Weir
Studio: Paramount
Buy on Amazon.com link

Truman Burbank is someone that the world knows, yet he’s someone that really doesn’t have an identity. He feels like he’s trapped yet not knowing Truman is part of a Television world created with his birth and the entire town of Seahaven is a town of actors and fictional characters. Jim Carrey stars in this excellent look at a man that just wants to be rid of a small island town, yet he can’t escape it because the creators of the show won’t let him.

Everything Truman Burbank has come to know is a complete fabrication. His life as some would say is a glass fishbowl where the entire world can see him. Created by Christof (Ed Harris), the entire town of Seahaven is a soundstage built, and every decision goes through the creator. It could be a decision like who will Truman meet today, what sponsors and advertisers are going to be product placed, or even if the town will suffer a rain storm today. Truman starts to question his life and the town, when odd things start happening like a flood light falling from the sunny blue sky. Of course these slight mistakes by the producers are covered up. The film is spent watching Truman uncover what ends up being fake and trying to escape the town. It’s a fascinating look at how some of our reality shows could end up since that type of show is a hit in the US and the world. The film actually came out before the start of “reality” programming and you think people would have gotten the message across.

Carrey shines in this film as Truman Burbank, an innocent, naive, and loveable Seahaven resident. It was a nice departure to see him in a drama. I think when I first saw the film in theaters, I was under the impression the film was more a comedy than it actually was. Once that misconception is out of the way, The Truman Show is a delightful film that really makes you think about your own life and what would it be to venture off from what you consider normal. Peter Weir did an excellent job with the film and didn’t get nearly enough credit for the film. The Blu-Ray release looks pretty good in the hi-def transfer. The colors came across crisp, clear and vibrant and the audio sounded strong with good depths.

The extras on the film consisted of a two part documentary and a featurette on visual effects, plus some deleted scenes, photo gallery and trailers. I really enjoyed the documentary as it explained quite a bit about the film and some things I really didn’t know about the film. I didn’t realize the film was shot on location, in some small town in Seaside, FL. I also found it interesting that they had to re-cast the role of Christof during shooting and saved all the scenes with him till the end of the shoot because they realized the other actor was not right for the tone of the film they were taking. I wish they would have said who that other actor was, but like usual they were being respectful. The cast in the all the interviews had nothing but excellent things to say about the Director Peter Weir, and it was a bit unusual that the writer, Andrew Niccol did not show up in the documentary. I’m guessing it had to do with Weir’s re-interpretation of the script and changed some things around, like the location. The original story called for it to be in New York City. I like the sound of Weir’s vision better. Besides the documentary a few other extras were included and are fun to check out as well, but the main interest for me on this one, was the documentary.

Features:
How’s It Going To End? The Making Of Part I
How’s It Going To End? The Making Of Part II
Faux Finishing, The Visual Effects Of The Truman Show
4 Deleted Scenes
Photo Gallery
2 Theatrical Trailers
2 TV Spots

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color – 1080p

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French, Portuguese

Favorite Scenes: Truman around town, In the library, Sailing away from Seahaven
Rating: PG
Running Time: 102 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: