The Majestic is pretty slow. You might find yourself wondering about your shopping, musing on whether you've got enough dried food for the dog. And that's when the film is at its most frantic! The Majestic is a try hard bore masquerading as serious cinema; small time America on a wholesome red carpet.
Jim Carrey in spite of being most known for his slapstick comedy routines in The Ace Ventura films has slipped predominantly towards dramatic rolls. He can be good at them.
The sometimes surreal films Cable Guy, The Truman Show and Man On The Moon were dramas with a strange twist, as befits an actor who's always been a little off key at his best. Comedy is after all the drama of the ridiculous.
The Majestic is anything but comedic however with Carrey playing it dead straight in what's unfortunately an out dated, Capraesque, I love small town America, homily.
Carrey plays Peter who's written a third rate film in early 1950's America. He gets accused of being a communist, takes a knock on the head and wakes up with amnesia in Lawson, a village imbued with old timers who lost a lot of sons in WW2.
One of the old men, Harry Trimble (Martin Landau), claims Peter is his long lost son Luke, who was lost in action for nearly ten years ago. There's a strong physical resemblance.
Callow Hollywood man Peter/Luke is lovingly adopted by the good citizens of Lawson and helps reopen The Majestic, the local theatre, which was run by Harry years before. This gives the citizens the opportunity to laud the character of American cinema. Luke/Peter also inherits Luke's old girlfriend Adele (Laurie Holden).
In tried (tired) and true Frank Capra fashion the Feds are closing in and of course the amnesia will eventually lift. The last act of the film has Peter defending the rights of good Americans to have freedom of speech.
What defeats The Majestic is its pace, and I'd imagine that a slow development of the plot was deliberately chosen by director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). The Majestic certainly has the feel of countless 1950's homilies to the American way which must have been the intention.
But we've moved on surely from this sort of stuff, even if some Americans, feeling under threat in recent times, might find this subject matter comforting. The Majestic did however give me time to mentally sort out my shopping list.
One Hungry Dog Fly Out Of Five
Jim Carrey in spite of being most known for his slapstick comedy routines in The Ace Ventura films has slipped predominantly towards dramatic rolls. He can be good at them.
The sometimes surreal films Cable Guy, The Truman Show and Man On The Moon were dramas with a strange twist, as befits an actor who's always been a little off key at his best. Comedy is after all the drama of the ridiculous.
The Majestic is anything but comedic however with Carrey playing it dead straight in what's unfortunately an out dated, Capraesque, I love small town America, homily.
Carrey plays Peter who's written a third rate film in early 1950's America. He gets accused of being a communist, takes a knock on the head and wakes up with amnesia in Lawson, a village imbued with old timers who lost a lot of sons in WW2.
One of the old men, Harry Trimble (Martin Landau), claims Peter is his long lost son Luke, who was lost in action for nearly ten years ago. There's a strong physical resemblance.
Callow Hollywood man Peter/Luke is lovingly adopted by the good citizens of Lawson and helps reopen The Majestic, the local theatre, which was run by Harry years before. This gives the citizens the opportunity to laud the character of American cinema. Luke/Peter also inherits Luke's old girlfriend Adele (Laurie Holden).
In tried (tired) and true Frank Capra fashion the Feds are closing in and of course the amnesia will eventually lift. The last act of the film has Peter defending the rights of good Americans to have freedom of speech.
What defeats The Majestic is its pace, and I'd imagine that a slow development of the plot was deliberately chosen by director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). The Majestic certainly has the feel of countless 1950's homilies to the American way which must have been the intention.
But we've moved on surely from this sort of stuff, even if some Americans, feeling under threat in recent times, might find this subject matter comforting. The Majestic did however give me time to mentally sort out my shopping list.
One Hungry Dog Fly Out Of Five