The Truman Show

If you think Simon Cowell is a television control freak, just meet "Christof" (Ed Harris) who built an huge great dome you can see from space, populated by dozens of ever-changing actors all so the ever-curious world can follow the life of one man. "Truman Burbank" (Jim Carrey) has lived what he considers to be a perfectly normal, trouble-free, life that has led him to his currently, happily married, status with "Meryl" (Laura Linney). He hasn't quite seemed to clock that every day bears a striking resemblance to the one before, but if it ain't broke... Then he begins to notice things that trigger some cerebral rebellion to his Elysian existence. He begins to realise just how unnaturally predicable everything in his life is whilst recalling his old flame "Lauren" (Natascha McElhone) who was inexplicably whisked away from a midnight seaside rendezvous. When his car radio accidentally picks up the talkback frequency and he quickly thereafter stumbles upon some sloppy scene-setting, he begins to question his whole reality - and boy is he in for one hell of a shock! What can he do, though? Every attempt to "escape" is thwarted and we know he is terrified of the water... Will he get to the truth? Easily Carrey's best role in my book, as he plays the good natured but slightly vacuous character whom we see evolve into someone much more capable than many - including his puppet-master - think possible. It's a comically savage indictment on the routine nature of the life so many people go through as one year follows another with little, if any, change to the safe daily regimen. The writing allows Carrey to deliver a plausibly characterful effort that's entertaining and engaging and hats also ought to come of to his on-screen wife (Linney) who presumably sacrifices quite a lot for her art and watches the man she cares for become a bit of a personality car crash. Could it ever happen? Maybe the old sailors were right - and there is an end of the flat world, as we know it...?