The Truman Show is one of those movies that virtually everyone adores, and I think it deserves this renown. I think the main reason it is so memorable is that it not only is enjoyable and fun to watch, but at the same time it is provocative and probing, and at the same time it is also very touching and sad, and on yet another hand it is errie and almost creepy. It's quite amazing that it could pull all these traits off so well.
The very premise alone should intrigue even the most imaginative person. A man grows up in a town he stays in his entire life, but the entire time he is living in a giant lie. Everything is fake because he is actually the star of a TV show - the most recognizable face in the world, and he doesn't even know it. From this idea branches a lot of creative ideas that are one of the reasons the movie is just so fun to watch, even on repeat viewings. There is something inhariently engrossing about watching the world literally revolve around him and seeing how they pull everything off.
The movie tells a very human story as well. It is quite sad to see Truman's 'best friends' blatently lie to him, and to seem him be manipulated. There are many scenes that really touched me, and movies that do this are very special to me as it is quite difficult to establish this sort of connection with the audience, and the fact that the Truman Show achieved this alone makes it worthy of recommending it to anyone who asks about it.
However, the movie does have some faults. As much as I respect Jim Carry as an actor, especially after Eternal Sunshine, I thought his antics sometimes went a bit overboard in this movie. When he is going crazy in the car for example, he was making all sorts of faces and just generally being Jim Carry. It would have been a bit more effective if he had been toned down a bit.
I also think the movie could have benefited from maybe ten more minutes just to beef it up.
However besides this I otherwise love the movie. I think this is my fourth time seeing it and I still do not tire of it. It has established an emotional connection with me that has yet to be broken and Jim Carry's character, Truman always seems to really touch me.
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