Back in the ‘90s, Jim Carrey had a well-deserved reputation as America’s zaniest comedic actor thanks to the success of movies like The Mask and Ace Ventura. That’s why it was so shocking seeing him play a very serious role in The Truman Show, a movie that was later nominated for an Oscar. This mind-bending drama is now streaming on Tubi for free, and it’s worth watching to discover how this prescient film eerily predicted our influencer-obsessed modern culture.
The plot of The Truman Show is that, from the moment he was born, Truman Burbank has unknowingly been the star of a reality show where audiences watch him grow up and navigate his life. The show is insanely popular, but Truman’s life is completely fake, with paid actors serving as friends and family members and studio execs manipulating him into never leaving his town (which is one big soundstage). Eventually, Truman begins suspecting something is up, but it’s an open question of whether he will figure things out and ever manage to escape into the real world.
When I saw this movie in theaters as a snot-nosed high schooler, it blew me away with its premise. Reality shows were very popular at the time, and the notion of a TV studio adopting a kid and turning his entire life into one big show seemed eerily possible. Decades later, though, The Truman Show seems even creepier because countless would-be influencers are now desperately following in Truman’s footsteps by documenting every aspect of their lives.
I don’t want to go full-on “old man yells at cloud,” but we live in a culture where audiences watch streamers play games, debate politics, dish about their love lives, and so much more. There’s nothing wrong with these people chasing that paper, but I’m always amazed that streamers are documenting so many aspects of their lives that my generation (and certainly my parents’ generation) would have kept as private as humanly possible.
That was what made the plot of The Truman Show so subversive: the idea that in-universe audiences were effectively robbing Truman of any privacy even as they reveled in creating a culture of voyeurs. Now, voyeur culture is dominant, and there’s no shortage of influencers trying to convert their every waking moment into viral content. In that way, this movie deserves full credit for predicting our bleak, clout-chasing future and doing so in such an honest and thoughtful way.
The cast of The Truman Show does a great job of bringing this forward-thinking drama to life, including Ed Harris (who was the best part of Westworld) as the showrunner effectively playing God with a man’s life. Meanwhile, Natascha McElhone (who dazzled in Californication) is great as the secret love of Truman’s life, a former background character who later becomes an activist trying to free Truman from his television prison. And even Paul Giamatti (soon to be the Big Bad in Starfleet Academy) shines in a smaller role as the control room director.
The best performance comes from Jim Carrey, who proves once and for all that he can handle serious dramas as well as bonkers comedies. He gives Truman surprising depth, portraying the character as essentially a good person trapped in everybody’s existential nightmare: a world where everyone and everything around him is fake. Carrey’s performance gives Truman’s quest for truth the zeal of a crusader while Truman himself maintains the gentility and compassion of a true media martyr.
The Truman Show earned three Academy Award nominations and currently has a 94 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Will you find the movie as engrossing as ‘90s audiences did, or is this one movie you’d rather ship out to Fiji? The only way to find out is to stream it on Tubi before this hit film bids us good morning, good afternoon, and good night.
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