Tracey FrinkSometimes, all you're looking for some feel-good fluff.
June 4th 2009 17:53
Hey, I am a female, after all. My video and DVD collection houses more than its fair share of "fluffy" movies, including the source of today's review, The Majestic (2001).
I don't know if this movie was panned more for the formulaic story line or for the fact that Jim Carrey tried his hand in a dramatic role. Maybe it was both. However, I hate to see actors pigeon-holed in one movie genre when it's perfectly clear that their talents transcend into others. (I can' rant about this subject for days, I tell you.)
Jim Carrey plays Peter Appleton, a 1950s B-movie screenwriter who finds himself on the Communist party's blacklist. Suddenly ostracized by those around him, he decides to get drunk and just take a drive. As he tells his bartender with the straightest of faces, "I'm leaving and taking the monkey with me." (No, he wasn't being perverted. He really carried a toy monkey with him to the bar.)
But, he ends up driving his car off a bridge and waking up on the beach in a small town with complete amnesia of who he is and where he came from. However, he bears an uncanny resemblance to the town's favorite son, presumably killed in World War II. It turns out that most of that town's young men had died in the war, almost completely obliterating an entire generation. The town embraces Carrey with open arms, thinking he is their precious "Luke" having come back from the dead. He is reacquainted with his elderly father and his old grilfriend and helps his father reopen the family business, a movie theater.
Of course, when things begin looking too idyllic, all Hell breaks loose. The Feds start catching up with Carrey after his car washes up on the beach. And some of the town's locals (including the girlfriend) start to suspect that their "Luke" isn't who he says he is. Some of his mannerisms are just a bit off. Eventually, Peter Appleton's memory catches up to him, but that is quickly overshadowed by a dramatic turning point in the plot. Sorry, I won't divulge details. If you want to know, you'll have to watch.
After this, the movie is fairly predictable. But, so was the rest of the movie. Even so, the predictability doesn't overshadow the movie's charm. This was not a movie for the 21st century, but a throwback to an earlier era. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Don't go in with a lot of expectations and you won't be heavily disappointed. Not every movie has to have a complicated plot to be worthy. Sometimes, all you want is a nice piece of fluff with plenty of sap.
I don't know if this movie was panned more for the formulaic story line or for the fact that Jim Carrey tried his hand in a dramatic role. Maybe it was both. However, I hate to see actors pigeon-holed in one movie genre when it's perfectly clear that their talents transcend into others. (I can' rant about this subject for days, I tell you.)
Jim Carrey plays Peter Appleton, a 1950s B-movie screenwriter who finds himself on the Communist party's blacklist. Suddenly ostracized by those around him, he decides to get drunk and just take a drive. As he tells his bartender with the straightest of faces, "I'm leaving and taking the monkey with me." (No, he wasn't being perverted. He really carried a toy monkey with him to the bar.)
But, he ends up driving his car off a bridge and waking up on the beach in a small town with complete amnesia of who he is and where he came from. However, he bears an uncanny resemblance to the town's favorite son, presumably killed in World War II. It turns out that most of that town's young men had died in the war, almost completely obliterating an entire generation. The town embraces Carrey with open arms, thinking he is their precious "Luke" having come back from the dead. He is reacquainted with his elderly father and his old grilfriend and helps his father reopen the family business, a movie theater.
Of course, when things begin looking too idyllic, all Hell breaks loose. The Feds start catching up with Carrey after his car washes up on the beach. And some of the town's locals (including the girlfriend) start to suspect that their "Luke" isn't who he says he is. Some of his mannerisms are just a bit off. Eventually, Peter Appleton's memory catches up to him, but that is quickly overshadowed by a dramatic turning point in the plot. Sorry, I won't divulge details. If you want to know, you'll have to watch.
After this, the movie is fairly predictable. But, so was the rest of the movie. Even so, the predictability doesn't overshadow the movie's charm. This was not a movie for the 21st century, but a throwback to an earlier era. I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Don't go in with a lot of expectations and you won't be heavily disappointed. Not every movie has to have a complicated plot to be worthy. Sometimes, all you want is a nice piece of fluff with plenty of sap.
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