The Majestic

In 1951, a Hollywood writer, branded a Communist at the height of the "Red Scare," loses his memory in a car accident, only to be mistaken for a small town's long-lost war hero.

Jim Carrey brings his charming, yet goofy, smile to this film, livening up what would otherwise have been a rather ordinary "feel-good" movie. Although most of the rest of the cast is rather lackluster, Martin Landau stands out as the caring father-figure, Harry Trimble, who is just as excited as he is astonished to see his long-lost son.

While this movie is probably the closest Carrey will get to an Academy Award for Best Actor, it's sad to note that most of the Academy will not be able to see past the "human exclamation point" that he has played in nearly every previous movie, to the amazing talent and range he shows in The Majestic. A touching movie, full of heart, and certainly capable of bringing a tear to even the toughest eyes.

Director: Frank Darabont
Script: Michael Sloane
Main cast:
Jim Carey - Peter Appleton/Luke Trimble
Martin Landau - Harry Trimble
Laurie Holden - Adele Stanton
David Ogden Stiers - Doc Stanton

This 2001 movie casts rubberface Jim Carey in another serious role, and let it be said at once that he is this movie's greatest asset. He can't save it from the pool of clichés that is the script, but he does some impressive acting, proving that he doesn't need to bend his face all over the place to express himself. In fact he is able to communicate a whole lot with just a blank stare.

Possible spoilers ahead

Carey plays b-movie screenwriter Peter Appleton, that is wrongfully accused of being a communist because of going to some meetings in the bread instead of bullets club as a student. Now, would it have killed them to actually have a real communist protagonist for once? But no, Appleton only went to this club to impress a girl, and now he is about to pay for it. However, he drives his car off a bridge, loses his memory and is resurrected as the long lost Luke Trimble in the small town of Lawson. Long story short - he charms just about everyone, helps his "father" reopen "The Majestic", their old movie theatre, and falls in love with Luke Trimble's girlfriend Adele. But then he starts to remember, and the investigators of the House Un-American Activities Committee catch up with him...

For the first couple of hours (out of about 2h20min), the movie just felt a bit too dwelling - too many shots of the entrance of The Majestic, too many kisses in the sunset etc. But only for the last half hour or so did it turn into a parody of itself. When Appleton made his tear-laden speech before the committee, I actually felt like hiding and sticking my fingers in my ears going LALALA, and the final scenes, which I shall discipline myself into not revealing, are beyond the clichés, far into the land of the most ridiculous happy endings ever.

I dragged a whole group of friends along to see this movie and actually felt slightly embarassed about it afterwards. But on a more positive note, as I said, Carey does a good job, and for some reason I almost always enjoy seeing old 'friends' from M*A*S*H, ie 'Major Winchester' - David Ogden Stiers, who is not bad at all.

Thanks to imdb.com - the internet movie data bible